


Five Nights: YOU CAN'T

by PreRagnarok



Series: Five Nights [1]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Adaptation Expansion, Canonical Character Death, Child Death, Contains Woobies, Gen, Infrequent Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2018-07-18 21:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7331770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PreRagnarok/pseuds/PreRagnarok
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike just wanted a job. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was looking for a security guard. But there's something weird about this place where he's started work at the night shift. The animatronic characters wander through the dark, and they seem to be slowly creeping toward Mike's office. Not to mention the visions and dreams that are starting to plague him, filled with voices crying for help.</p><p>Something's not right about Freddy Fazbear's. Every night becomes more dangerous than the last and a mysterious puppeteer lurks in the shadows...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated (hopefully) every Monday.

_1983_

The door to Freddy Fazbear's was shoved open and Zach stumbled out into the street, wiping his eyes. He sniffled and cast one last glance through the glass doors of the pizzeria where the party was taking place.

Over twenty children his age were gathered, talking laughing and playing amongst the flashy bright colours of the venue. It was his classmate's birthday party and the boy's mother had insisted on inviting everybody in his class. Everybody had been talking about it for weeks, Freddy Fazbear's was every kid's favourite place. Nobody would shut up about the pizza, the music and most of all; the animatronic band that everybody would personally meet.

Zach watched as the cars sped by. He was starting to get strange looks from people passing, most likely wondering what he was doing by a busy main road when every child's dream was waiting for him just behind those glass double doors.

He ducked his head and slunk away from their watchful eyes, ducking into the carpark beside the pizzeria. He sat down with his back against the metal fence and wondered how long it would take until his mother came to pick him up. He could just wait here until the party was over; it wasn't as if any of the kids inside would miss the sullen, quiet boy who always wore black.

Thankfully, nobody interrupted him as he sat alone, gazing at the mural of Freddy and his friends that had been painted on the side wall of the building. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, Fredbear and a golden bunny character that he didn't recognise. It was probably one of the older animatronics.

He always found it strange how the other children he knew acted toward the characters. They'd try to talk to them, like they were actually alive. Zach rolled his eyes at the memories of earlier that day, a girl in his class had tried to get a response out of the Bonnie animatronic for almost five minutes until it finally uttered 'I love pizza!'. She squealed in delight as if she'd made a life-changing discovery. But those things were  _robots_. It was as clear as day. All they could do was mindlessly wander and sing the same dumb songs over and over. What was all the excitement around them? They were nothing but brainless puppets.

"Shouldn't you be inside?"

Zach jumped at the voice, he hadn't noticed the man approaching him. He now stood beside him, hands in his black jacket over a purple shirt, staring quizzically down at the young boy.

Zach looked away, feeling strangely guilty for some reason. As if he'd just been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to. "I'm alright out here." he mumbled, "The other kids don't mind too much."

The man glanced around and then sat down beside Zach, "Why's that?" he questioned, "Won't they notice that you're gone?"

Zach just shrugged, "I don't think they like me very much." he replied truthfully. He kept his eyes fixed on the ground, not entirely comfortable talking to a stranger that had appeared out of nowhere, but he knew that it would be rude to tell the man to leave.

The man was silent for a few moments, Zach could feel his dark gaze studying him and he shifted uncomfortably. "I see." the man said at last.

They sat in silence for a while, Zach went back to staring across the carpark at the mural as the man fidgeted beside him. He could see out of the corner of his eye the man looking around every now and again, as if he expected somebody to appear at any second but nobody did.

Zach felt a prickle of unease. The man hadn't done anything yet, but he didn't like the way he'd constantly twitch and glance across the carpark. There was something glimmering in the man's eyes that he just couldn't put his finger on. Zack ducked his head and got to his feet, "I need to go now." he said quietly.

"Wait!" the man's gaze darted around the carpark and he winced as if he was scared somebody might have heard him, "I-I need to talk to you."

Nervous. That's what it was. The man was  _nervous._  

Now Zach could see it clearly, the way his blue eyes widened as they scoured the area around him once more, the way his hands would twitch in his pockets, the way his voice was hushed and the words seemed to tumble out of his mouth.

The man closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, "I'm sorry." he said softly.

"It's ok." Zach told him, puzzled. What was he sorry for? He hadn't done anything wrong.

Shakily, the man held out one pale hand and Zach hesitantly reached out. He wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but the man had seemed nice enough until-

His wrist was grabbed ahold of and something sharp was stabbed into his arm. He tried to scream but the man covered his mouth with one hand.

"Don't make this even harder for me." the man pleaded, tearing the syringe out of Zach's arm and glancing around the carpark once more. He shoved the boy to the ground and hurried toward one of the parked cars.

The icy tarmac burned against Zach's face as he watched the man drive away. At first, he felt nothing but a stinging feeling in his arm where the syringe had pierced him. But soon it was replaced with a numbness.

He could hear a voice and somebody running up to him, "Kid, are you ok?"

The numbness was spreading. Down to his fingertips and up to his shoulder.

They took him inside into one of the Staff Only rooms. None of the other children seemed to notice his return.

The numbness was swimming in his chest, his lungs, his heart. He could barely move. He struggled for air, but it was like he was breathing through a straw. 

People were trying to talk to him, but their voices sounded so far away.

He didn't want to go. He couldn't go. He clung onto what little life he had left.

His vision started to blur.

The man's face burned into his mind. His dark hair and purple eyes.

He couldn't feel anything. He wasn't hot or cold or in pain. He was... _Nothing_.

Nothing.

Nothing.

He was no more.

And yet he refused to let go. 


	2. One Sentence

_1993_

One sentence can be all it takes.

One sentence can topple an empire with the right words. One sentence can make a heart break, give hope and then snatch it away just as fast. One sentence can tear a person apart, can save a life, can set somebody free. One sentence can herald light or herald disaster.

Just like how the sentence, "Mike, get a job" was the herald for such stress and disaster.

After three days of his mother insisting that as long as he was still under her roof, he had to work. And Mike was willing to work anywhere to get her to stop.

Finding the job wasn't the hardest part. All Mike had to do was toss open that morning's newspaper to find the advert staring up at him: large bold text beside a picture of what looked like some kind of humanoid bear thing. But what really called to him was what was printed across the ad.

**Help Wanted**

**F** **reddy Fazbear's Pizza**  
**Family pizzeria looking for security guard to work the nightshift. 12am to 6am.  
Monitor cameras, ensure saftey of equipment and animatronic cameras.  
** **Not responsible for injury/dismemberment**

Freddy Fazbear's? Wasn't that the failing pizzeria across town? At some point it had been alive with activity, Mike could still remember when he was a kid. He wondered what had happened, the last time he'd been business was thriving and they never seemed to be short of employees. It looked like they were hiring now.

The night shift worked just fine with him. Being nineteen, he was used to staying awake into the ridiculous hours of the night and sleeping throughout the day. And working the night shift also meant that he wouldn't have to put up with any annoying coworkers he might meet.

The only part that really bothered him was the mentioning of injury and dismemberment. Exactly how likely was that going to be happening at a  _children's_ pizzeria? Sure, somebody might break in during the night, but that almost never happened. It was probably just some kind of legal disclaimer that they had to put in.

So, aside from the small chance of assault from an armed robber, things were looking pretty good for him. It was just going to be him all alone for six hours.

Or at least, that was the way it was supposed to be.

Maybe he was eager to work at Freddy Fazbear's because it was familiar to him. He'd been there enough times as a kid, though after six years he could hardly remember it. There was a bear and a chicken mascot, that was for sure. And a few others that he couldn't remember. But he'd liked the place, that much he knew. Every kid in town liked that place. And who wouldn't? Everyone loved pizza, cake, singing animals and eating sugar until they were sick. And that was exactly what the spirit of Fazbear's was about.

He stopped short almost as soon as he entered the building a day later. Up there on the stage at the front of the room were three figures, taller than any person he'd ever known. But these things definitely weren't people.

Were those the animatronic characters? Mike stared up at the stage, his eyes wide. Here they were, the pride and joy of Fazbear Entertainment. Their claim to fame, the star attraction. Finally, he could see them in the flesh with his own two eyes.

They were hideous _._

In his vague memories of visiting this place as a child, he couldn't properly form an image of them in his mind. But he swore that they were once a lot more... Child-friendly.

Before him, the three animatronic's oversized heads swivelled above bodies covered in fabric that's colour was fading with age and their chunky limbs jerked robotically through the air. Eyes rolled in their sockets and their mechanical jaws snapped open and shut out of time to the song that was blaring through the speakers set against either side of the stage. And then there was that song they were singing. Who in their right mind would write that thing? Pizza, rainbows, Freddy and Friends, it sounded like it could actually make your ears bleed. Mike could hardly believe that he actually  _liked_ this place once.

Thank God his mother stopped taking him here.

He must have looked a little lost, hovering by himself near the entrance because one of the members of staff loitering around the dining area soon approached him.

"Hello and welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, can we help you?" the employee asked in a bored voice. Mike could hardly blame him, he could count more staff than customers in the building. What all these people were supposed to do when there was nobody to serve, Mike had no idea.

He explained what he was here for and the man gave him a sympathetic look and told him he'll notify the manager before leaving Mike alone again. A minute later, a middle-aged woman clad in purple and gold emerged from one of the halls marked 'staff only' and all but pranced toward Mike, a wide grin spread across her face.

"So, you want to be our new night guard!" she exclaimed cheerfully before he had a chance to open his mouth, "My name's Melanie Carlson and I'm the manager of Freddy's as well as the CEO of Fazbear Entertainment but everybody here just calls me Mel. You look a tad familiar, have you been here before?"

A little taken aback by the woman's enthusiasm, Mike just nodded, "Yeah," he said at last, "I came here a few times as a kid. My name's Mike. Mike Schmidt."

"Ah." Mel clicked her tongue, "No, can't say I remember you after all, sorry. My daughter was the one who would always be here back in the day, but now I'm much more involved. It is _my_  business after all. And I take it, that you would like to join our family of humble entertainers?"

Mike blinked, still not entirely sure how to react to this woman's unnatural excitement, "Um, yeah I guess."

Mel looked ecstatic, "You are? That's fantastic! I wasn't expecting somebody to answer the ad so quickly! I'm afraid that you'll have to wait a week until Jonathan - the current guard - finishes his shift. But you can start work on Sunday night!"

"Ok, fine by me." said Mike. He was perfectly happy to wait a whole week before starting work. It was another few seconds until he realised exactly what she was saying, "Wait, are you saying that I'm hired?" he's thought there were other people wanting the position, too. He didn't think that walking into the building was all he needed to be hired, otherwise he would have been employed _months_ ago.

The manager frowned in surprise at his question, "Well, don't you want the job?" she asked.

"Well yeah, but aren't you going to interview me or-"

"There's no need for that." Mel interrupted, wide smile plastered once more across her face, "You showing up here is enough to tell me that you're committed. And night guards are so hard to come by these days, I'm really not picky. As long as you're willing to work, I'll hire you."

Well, this was proving to be much easier than Mike had expected it to be. He'd been anticipating the manager to ask him a long list of questions, silently judging him with every passing second before giving him a vague answer to whether or not he was hired. The last thing he thought would happen was he'd be handed the job almost as soon as he set foot in the building.

Before Mike could say anything, Mel turned and called to one of the employees that were hanging around absent-mindedly across the room. The employee; a young woman chewing gum strode up to them, wearing the same purple shirt and tie as the rest of the staff. Mel sighed as she reached them and muttered something about telling her not to chew gum inside.

"Nikki dear, this is Mike." Mel introduced him, her voice returning to its sweet tone, "He's going to be our new night guard. Can you please show him around and get him one of those shirts?"

Nikki lazily studied Mike with her glittering green eyes and nodded, blowing a bubble and smirking at Mel's distasteful expression as it burst, "Sure thing." she said, scrubbing the remnants of bubblegum off her mouth.

"Thanks, honey." Mel said, her smile looking a bit forced, "And spit that gum out please. It makes you look like a juvenile delinquent."

Nikki obediently spat her gum into a nearby bin that had been painted with an ugly floral pattern and led Mike away from her boss. As soon as they'd gone a few metres, she took another piece of gum out of her pocket and popped it into her mouth. "Welcome to Freddy's. Where we either entertain kids or scare them away." she said.

Mike couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that he wasn't the only person who thought the animatronics belonged in a freak show rather than a pizzeria for small children. "Do the kids actually mind them?" he questioned, glancing back over at the stage.

"Strangely enough, yeah." Nikki said, following his gaze, "In fact, they kinda love Freddy and his band. Looks like it's just us adults who think they're creepy at all. Kids are weird."

Mike agreed with that, "What's wrong with their voices, why do they-"

"Suck so much at singing?" Nikki finished, "They haven't been fixed as far as I can remember. Heck, I don't think they've even been looked inside for almost a decade. This place can barely pay its staff at the moment, they can't afford to hire a mechanic. I guess as long as it remotely works, anything goes here."

"Oh." Mike looked back over at the hideous creatures on stage, "I didn't know this place was failing that bad. What, are the animatronics scaring away potential customers or something? Because those things are going to give me nightmares."

Nikki shrugged, "I'm not too sure, I never asked." she admitted, "Maybe because the whole place like, smells kinda bad since Mel's too stingy to hire a proper cleaner. And the food also sucks." she blew a bubble with her gum and went back to chewing it, casting a defiant glare at Mel from across the room.

Mike made a quick mental note to refuse any food offered here. He had to agree with Nikki on the smell. If the creepy animals on stage didn't turn parents away, the stench of the carpet definitely did. It smelt like it had never been washed. It was a wonder this place was still open. Mike couldn't help but wonder what kind of health violations this place was committing. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly had 'happened' to the kids Nikki mentioned. Maybe food poisoning judging by the sanitation of the establishment.

Nikki gestured lazily around them, "This is the dining area." she told him, "Where all the magic and excitement and yadda yadda happens. There's a map of this place in the office so I don't think I really need to give you a guided tour."

"Thanks." Mike said dryly, "It's great to see I have such helpful and supportive coworkers."

Nikki shot him a grin, "I think you and I are going to get on a-ok!" she said cheerfully.

They'd reached the end of the dining area and were making their way down one of the hallways opposite the show stage, into the staff only area. Away from public eyes, the carpet was dustier, and the walls had been covered with craft and pictures made by previous customers in order to hide the cracked and peeling plaster. She took him to a storage closet with a chipped and scratched door that desperately needed a new coat of paint.

"If the public can't see it or it ain't important, don't bother fixing it." Nikki explained to him, "That's our company's motto. Well, it's actually, it's 'brightening the lives of children every day' or something like that, but this is much more accurate." the door's hinges screeched as it swung open to reveal a small room filled with cardboard boxes, ancient merchandise and drawings made by children God-knows how many years ago. The whole place smelt strongly of mothballs and mould.

"So here's the supply closet, where we keep stuff that we don't know where else to put." Nikki explained, kicking a few boxes filled with Freddy plushies to one side, "The animatronics have their own storeroom all to themselves backstage where we keep all their spare parts. Though they're the only things here that aren't broken." she found the box she was looking for and crouched down in front of it, carelessly tearing it open to reveal it filled with more purple uniform shirts.

"So what happened to the last guard?" Mike questioned, pushing away the urge to lean against the wall upon seeing how filthy it was.

"He's finishing his last week right now." Nikki explained, digging through the box, "I'm not sure what exactly happened, but he came into work the other day crying, saying that he 'couldn't take it any longer' or something like that. He was like, super distressed, it took forever for him to calm down. Mel insisted that he should work one last week until she found a replacement for him." she tossed Mike a shirt, "Does this one fit?"

Mike caught the shirt and held it up against him, "Yeah, it kind of fits." he confirmed. So he had to replace some guy who'd had a nervous breakdown during his shift. He could hardly blame the guy, those animatronics probably looked even scarier in the dark.

Nikki opened up another box and pocketed a few of the indigo ties stored inside. She held on out to Mike, "Free tie?"

He shrugged and took it from her, "Sure, why the hell not." he watched as she swiped a few dolls while she was at it, "Isn't this illegal?"

"Well, _technically_ we get given the ties and stuff for free," Nikki said carefully, straightening up, "and it's not like the plushies are given out anymore. This place used to have an arcade and prize corner but not anymore, so these toys are just sitting around here. Plus," she grinned and held up a golden-coloured Freddy doll, "These things are like, _vintage_! Do you know how much somebody pays for them? It makes this minimum-wage job slightly more bearable!"

"Fair enough." though Mike was pretty sure it wasn't too fair on Mel, he wasn't ready to start judging Nikki. After all, he was pretty tempted to do the same thing now that he could.

"I'll be seeing you around, I guess." Nikki said, taking her gum out of her mouth and sticking it under the door handle, "If you want to nick anything from here, just make sure you don't get caught, because then  _I'll_ get caught and I'm making pretty good money out of secretly selling old merchandise."

Mike laughed, "Don't worry, if I'm short on money, I can always mooch off my mum."

"You sir, are a despicable human being." Nikki said, barely able to keep a straight face. She led him out of the closet and pointed down the hall at a doorway at the end of it, "That's the office, you can explore it as much as you want next week. Both the east and west halls lead into it. As I said before, there's a map inside so I don't need to show you around and... Yeah." she looked satisfied, "I think my work is done here."

"So, any advice on surviving my shifts?" Mike joked.

Nikki shrugged one shoulder, "I guess just don't freak out." she said, "That's all I've learned from this night guard. But I think that's just because three years of taking the night shift with creepy animatronics finally made him snap."

Mike was just glad he wasn't going to be taking the shift that long. He wondered who in their right mind would _want_ to guard some singing animals for three years straight. That was bound to drive anybody insane.

Mel saw him to the door, smiling and laughing and assuring him that she knew he'd do a great job and just overall unnerving Mike with how cheerful she was being. She kept stressing how grateful she was that he'd turned up when he had and how important it was for the animatronics to be guarded. Mike, on the other hand couldn't help but wonder what kind of dangers could harm them. It wasn't like they could be stolen, how was somebody was meant to steal a seven-foot robotic animal? But he figured it might be a better to keep his mouth shut. It probably wasn't such a good idea to be asking dumb questions before his first day.

"Once more, thank you so much! Most people don't like the night shift because they find it so inconvenient but between you and me, those people are just lazy." Mel told him as they stepped outside, "It's a relief to see that at least _some_  of today's youth are still motivated and hard-working."

'Motivated' and 'hard-working' were not words that described Mike at all. But again, he figured it would be best to not say anything. He just nodded every now and again to make it look like he was paying attention to her speech as he made his way to his car, Mel trailing behind him.

"We'll see you on Sunday, Michael!" she pretty much sang, finally ending her one-sided conversation with him.

Mike waved her goodbye and began to drive away. He had to say, he hadn't expected the CEO of a once prosperous business to be acting so... What was the word? Needy? Unrefined? Overly eager? Oh well, at least he won't have to deal with her and her overbearing joyfulness during the night shift. For the first time since setting eyes on them, he actually felt a little glad to be spending the night with the animatronics.

It was only when he was about halfway home when he remembered that he'd never introduced himself as Michael.


	3. Night One: The Dark of the Night

On Friday however, Mike got a call from Fazbear's.

"Don't bother turning up on Sunday, Honey." Mel told him over the phone, "We'll be closed for the next few days."

"Did something happen?" Mike asked. In all honesty, he didn't really care if his first day was postponed. All it meant was that he got to work less days until college started and that was all good for him, but he had a feeling his new boss wouldn't like it very much if he voiced that opinion out loud.

"Oh no, nothing happened! Everything's fine over here!" Mel said, her voice high and fast-paced, "We're just going to have a few busy weeks ahead of us and I realised just how  _dirty_ the whole place was, so we'll be closed for the weekend while the building gets cleaned. The last thing I want to do is have my business shut down for health violations. Just come in Monday, we'll be done by then."

"Ok, sure-" Mike broke off when he heard her hang up on the other side.

"Who was that?" he turned to see his mother standing in the doorway.

Mike hung up, "That was my boss. From my work. Because I have a job. Are you proud of me now?"

"Yes, I'm very proud to see that you - an adult - are finally taking control of your life." Ms Schmidt replied sarcastically, "Where are you working at now, anyway?"

"Freddy Fazbear's Pizza." Mike said, leaning back against the wall, "They needed a security guard, pretty desperately too looking at how the manager was acting." he caught sight of his mother's frown, "What?"

She shook her head, "I'm just surprised. I didn't expect you'd want to work there."

"It's not  _that_ bad. At least they're finally cleaning the place up a bit."

She looked as if she wanted to say something else on the subject, hesitating a moment. Instead, she just said, "Well, I suppose now that you're a responsible adult with a job, cleaning your room will be no challenge for you."

"But it  _is_ clean!"

"And pigs fly. It's about time you did something productive."

Mike rolled his eyes as she turned away from him before he slunk out of the hall, planning on anything but productivity.

* * *

Mike found the pizzeria empty when Monday night came around, all employees had already cleared out of it when he arrived at 11. He'd expected somebody to remain to explain what exactly he was supposed to be doing. He had thought being a security guard required more qualifications than he had, or at least more work to be doing. All he knew was he was supposed to look at cameras and make sure nobody broke in, but nothing else. 

Not that he was complaining.

The entire building was dark and dead silent, Mike gave up looking for a light switch after five minute of fumbling along the wall. He sighed and waited for his eyes to adjust. The place looked different at night when all the lights had been killed. The bright colours just looked wrong when they were swamped in shadows, it didn't feel right for everything to be this silent, either. Up on the stage, the animatronics were eerily still as if frozen in time.

Fazbear's looked like it had been abandoned years ago. Mike wouldn't have been surprised to find cobwebs and dust coating everything in sight, but everything as far as he could see was spotless it could have sparkled in the darkness. Even the animatronics that had been badly stained and were most likely growing mould on them looked as if they were brand new.

With just under an hour left until his shift was meant to start, he spent the time poking around the building on the self-guided tour that Nikki hadn't given him when he'd first arrived. He still couldn't find a way to turn the lights on, so he kept walking into tables and chairs in the dark, cussing loudly each time. Would it kill these people to have even a little light? How was he supposed to see anything on the cameras if he couldn't see anything in person? Perhaps it was just another instance of Mel being stingy that Nikki had told him about.

Despite knowing that he was all alone, Mike couldn't help but glance nervously around wherever he went. He couldn't shake off the feeling that somebody somewhere in the building was watching him, but that was impossible. There was nobody here but him and the animatronics that stood lifelessly upon the show stage.

Beside the stage was a door marked  _Backstage: Staff Only_ that he'd passed by before remembering that he was now part of that staff. He took a step inside, expecting some kind of break room but was instead met by more cardboard boxes filled with old merchandise, spare animatronic parts and the smell of rotting fabric. Unlike the rest of the pizzeria, this room's carpet was dusty and stained brown with age and the corners of the room filled with cobwebs. An ancient animatronic suit lay slumped in the corner, stained just as badly as the carpet was and nearby in the shadows...

Mike jumped, thinking at first that it was another person. But in the dim moonlight filtering in through the small translucent window he could see it shone metallically. It was a robot of some sorts, an animatronic's endoskeleton maybe? But its joints were rusted into place, it obviously hadn't been used for years. All the same, it looked as disturbing as the animatronics themselves were.

He left the backstage rather quickly, hoping to forget about its disgusting stench and naked endoskeleton soon.

Two halls led down to the office, Mike took the one on the right that went past the supply closet. He considered nicking a few plush dolls he could either keep as souvenirs or sell later but decided that he probably shouldn't start his first night on the job with theft.

The office was a lot smaller than he thought it would be, about a third of it was taken up by an old wooden desk that was completely covered in paperwork and fast food containers. The only things that looked to be of any use were a metal fan a small television with a keyboard attached to it. About a quarter of what was left was filled with even more cardboard boxes filled with yellowed drawings of the animatronics in crayon and purple shirts. The walls on either side of Mike were close enough that he could easily reach out and press one of the two buttons beside each doorway. He did so and a thick metal door slid down from above. He shrugged to himself, protection against people in a break-in, he supposed.

He checked his watch, he still had ten minutes until 12. His shift hadn't even started and he was bored already.

He dumped all the empty food containers in the already overflowing wastepaper basket and switched the TV on. Static flickered across the screen and Mike could just make out the animatronics stranding on the show stage. After mashing buttons on the keyboard, he learned what to press to get which camera on the screen. Show stage, dining area, left hall, right hall, backstage, supply closet, restrooms and a place called Pirate Cove that he hadn't noticed before. Only the kitchen didn't have a camera, the screen was black and displayed the words 'Camera Disabled, Audio Feed Only'.

With nothing better to do, he looked through the camera feed again. Nope, nobody had broken in, the animatronics were still in one piece and nothing looked like it had been stolen. His work here was done.

Backstage, show stage, right hall, left hall, Pirate Cove, kitchen, restrooms, main hall, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.

And then the phone started ringing.

He hadn't noticed it at first, but there was a small red phone buried underneath some papers. Mike dug it out and pressed the loudspeaker button.

" _Hello? Hello?_ "

"Hello?" Mike repeated, "Who's this?" who would be calling him at this hour?

" _I'm the current night guard._ " the man had a nervous but kindly voice, " _W-well, I mean, not anymore that is. Um, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled in and, er, keep you company, I guess? The night shift can get pretty lonely._ "

At least Mike now had a faceless Phone Guy to entertain him for however long the recording would go on for.

" _The job's not that hard when you get used to it, I'm sure you'll do fine._ " Phone Guy went on, " _First, I have to read you this legal thing though, um..._ " there was a shuffling noise, " _Here it is.. Ah, 'Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life. Fazbear Entertainment is not responsible for damage to property and person. Upon discovering that damage or death has occurred, a missing person report will be filed within 90 days, or as soon as property and premises has been thoroughly cleaned and bleached and the carpets replaced._ "

Well,  _that_ was an unusual greeting, to say the least. Death and disappearance being mentioned almost as soon as his shift began didn't sit too well with Mike.

Phone Guy seemed to detect this and quickly added, " _It's just policy for you new employees to know this, y-y'know? There's really nothing to worry about, I'm sure you'll do just fine. The animatronics_ do _get kind of.. Er,_ quirky _at night but you really shouldn't worry. You'll do fine, you'll do fine..._ "

His voice trailed away for a second and Mike sighed. Great, if sitting alone in the dark for six hours wasn't bad enough, all he had to listen to was a neurotic guy who seemed to be implying that he was in some kind of danger. 

" _Well, the animatronic characters tend to wander a little bit. That might come as a surprise to new guards because they don't anymore, not since the Bite of '87. Apparently, their servos lock up if they're turned off for too long, and since they're not allowed to move around when children might be near, they can only wander around during the night shift._ "

Mike stared hard at the grainy image of the show stage. The animatronics' jaws certainly  _were_ big enough to fit a child's head in, and possibly strong enough to cause some damage. The only question was how a kid could be lifted seven feet into the air and right into one of their mouths.

As he watched, he could see Bonnie's head turn, very slowly to face the camera.

" _Uh, so I'm just going to get to the point. Basically, we have a policy here at Freddy Fazbear's that endoskeletons are forbidden from appearing in public without a suit, we can't have the kids seeing their idols like that. S-so in case one is found wandering around, the animatronics have all been programmed to fix the problem themselves and'll fit the endoskeleton back into an animatronic suit._ "

Bonnie had cocked its head to one side. Chica raised its head slightly.

" _The only problem is that there is this, uh, glitch somewhere in their programming. See, since it's dark a-and kinda hard to see during the night shift, the animatronics have some difficulty telling apart what's human and what isn't. So if they get close enough to see you, they might think that_ you're _an endoskeleton and try to... Er, stuff you into one of the suits._ "

The animatronics twitched on the stage.

" _Now, that wouldn't really be much of a problem, except for the fact that these suits aren't made to be worn by humans. They're filled with wires, crossbeams and lots of sharp bits of metal. And if y-you take into account that you're being_ forcefully _stuffed into one of them... Y-yeah, it doesn't end too well. A few people may or may not have died from that. I mean, I'm not saying that they_ have _, just, er..._ " Phone Guy paused awkwardly and cleared his throat.

Then Bonnie turned away from the camera and began to shuffle off the stage.

" _A-anyway, I should go now. You'll do fine, there really isn't much to worry about. Just check those cameras and outside your doors where there are blind spots and- oh yeah, before I go, I should probably let you know that the night shift can only use a certain amount of power before it shuts off completely. It's to save money, you know? Um, using the lights, doors and cameras all drains power so er, just... Just keep an eye on that, ok? Um, goodnight._ " there was a click as he hung up.

Well, that message was... Unexpected. Mike wondered if it was just a prank the old guard wanted to play before he left. That was incredibly likely, it sounded ludicrous enough to be one. But he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about the unmistakable fear in the man's voice...

He immediately turned the monitor off before switching it on again. Should he conserve power or check the animatronics one last time? According to the screen, he'd already wasted 7% and he still had over five left to go.

Alright, Chica and Freddy were still where he'd last seen them, Bonnie had just entered the dining area. Good, they were still ages away from the office. He turned the screen off and looked around, leaning over to press the door buttons and lights to make sure they worked. He sat in silence for a few more seconds and checked the cameras again. Nothing had moved. Yet.

He glanced outside each of the doors but could barely see more than a few metres ahead of him in the gloom. He checked the cameras again and made sure the doors were working once more to be absolutely certain.

How long would they take to reach him? An hour? Two hours? All night? He'd have to be ready for them when they got here. He looked around the room, maybe he could pile up enough of those boxes to cover one of the doorways. Maybe that would trick the animatronics into thinking there was only one door into the office and he'd only have to keep an eye on one. But after getting a good look at the boxes, he soon realised that there wouldn't be enough.

If they got in, he supposed that he could hide under the desk. But that probably had been tried before and if it was a valid option, Phone Guy probably would have told him about it.

He replayed Phone Guy's message one more time to make sure there was nothing that he'd missed. Hello, hello, cameras, lights, doors, don't die, occasional stuttering, goodnight.

It was just as he was checking the animatronics a fifth time (they still hadn't budged) that he realised exactly what he was doing. He was panicking that some animal-themed robots at a children's pizzeria were coming to kill him.

How had this happened?

Ok, they were scary. But what were the odds of them being able to _kill_ him? How had Phone Guy managed to convince him that was possible?

He checked the cameras once more, still wary but a lot more at ease. He couldn't believe that he was letting the previous guard get to him like this.

He had a mini heart-attack when he saw that Bonnie had moved, but he soon found him in the backstage.

Right beside the bare endoskeleton.

Mike leaned forward in anticipation. Phone Guy had said it himself, every endoskeleton had to be in a suit. And here was one without, and it was directly in Bonnie's line of sight. If Phone Guy was right about all this crap, the animatronic would stuff it in a suit. Then, and only then, was Mike allowed to be paranoid.

He folded his arms and stared at the screen. He could wait.

And then he caught sight of the draining power level in the corner of the monitor and realised that he couldn't watch. He sighed, switched it off and looked around for something to do while he waited.

Almost everything on the desk was useless. It was too cold to turn the fan on and Mike couldn't care less about the unimportant forms lying scattered across the desk. Most of the drawers were filled with junk, too. Garbage, yellowed papers, a book filled with the contact details of employees from decades ago, one drawer was covered in ancient chewing gum and another was locked. He dug through the bottom drawer and found an old, frayed exercise book.

He flicked through the pages; about half of them had been written in with the same small, neat handwriting. The initials  _JF_  had been cramped into the very corner of the first page, as if their author hadn't wanted anybody to know who was writing. The words were almost unreadable in the darkness, but Mike could still make out the first line.

_I wish I could say I'm not scared._

Did everyone in this goddamn pizzeria have to act unnecessarily creepy? Mike rolled his eyes and turned back to the monitor to check on Bonnie. The bunny was back in the dining area, having left the backstage - and more importantly, the endoskeleton - alone.

He probably shouldn't have felt so relieved, but he really did. Finally, that annoying, inkling paranoia was banished from his mind. Phone Guy was right about only one thing: he would be fine.

Feeling a lot more at ease, he turned back to his only source of entertainment lying open on the desk.

_I wish I could say I'm alone, too. But I'm not. There are so many more here but I don't know if I feel surrounded or completely alone. He's watching me, I know he is. They're closing in on me, I don't think I'm safe, no matter what people say. Something's right outside the office right now, I can just sense it. I think something's under the desk, too. I don't want to look, in case I'm right. I'm scared I'll look under and something really will be there and I don't know what I'll do then.  
__I think I should be writing fiction instead. It would be nice; you can make anything up in fiction, you can write about awful things happening to other people while you're sitting alone safely in reality. But right now, everything feels so much like fiction. This shouldn't be possible, but it is. My world has become fiction, a world of fantasy. I think it's part of me now, and I can't escape it.  
Though, what scares me the most is... I don't think I _ want _to escape._

And then he was outside the the office, standing in the hallway.

Everything was so dark... Was it always like this? Silently, cautiously, he made his way down the hall, flinching at every shadow as if he expected it to conceal a hidden enemy. He didn't like how exposed he felt out in the open, he could almost feel somebody's invisible stare burning into his back but every time he turned around, all he could see was the suffocating darkness. 

Ducking his head, he picked up the pace. He wasn't sure where he was going, only that he was supposed to be looking for something but he'd forgotten just what it was meant to be.

Somebody was behind him. He was sure of it. He whirled around but was met with blackness.

And then he heard someone say his name.

It came in a whimper, and nearby. He glanced around him and then there, in the shadows, he saw a white hand reaching out to him. He drew closer, sneakers squelching in the blood that soaked the carpet. A young girl lay on the ground, pale and shaky, clothes stained, eyes leaking silent tears.

"You need... Go." her voice was barely a whisper, "I couldn't save them. He got to them first." blood dribbled from her mouth, several teeth had been shattered and were missing, "I can't... Go..."

He shook his head, unable to form words. All he knew was that he couldn't leave this girl alone, bleeding and broken. Who would do this to somebody? He was dimly aware of his nails digging so hard into his palms that they were drawing blood.

"Go!" she hissed, more urgently this time. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of something behind him and she screamed his name. He spun around just in time to see somebody grab ahold of his arm and shove him to the floor. He caught sight of the man's wide grin and the murderous glint in his purple eyes before the hammer came smashing down into his face.

And then he was back in the office.

The first thing that snapped Mike back into reality was that his nails were stabbing into his palms. Hastily, he uncurled his hands but his fingernails were already stained red. He stared blankly down at them, unable to think of anything other than that girl's scream and her bloody face and the man's grin and his purple eyes and the way the hammer swung and cracked his face open.

Slowly, he reached one bloodied hand up to where the hammer had hit, right under his left eye. He searched for a wound, or at least some evidence of damage but found none. No blood, no bone, no ruined flesh.

That wasn't possible, he had definitely been there. It was just seconds ago, he was in the hall, there was that injured girl and the man with purple eyes...

He fumbled to turn the monitor on with his stinging hands, maybe the man was still in the building somewhere. Was Mike safe? What about the girl? She was still bleeding out in the hall unless the man had already finished her off.

Left hall, right hall. He checked both spots three times each, straining to make out a limp human figure under all the static and shadow but they were empty. He searched through all the other cameras in hopes of catching a glimpse of a girl or a man with purple eyes.

Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. How could that be possible? He'd seen them with his own eyes. He'd been there, he could still make out the terror in her eyes, he could still feel the blinding pain as his face was smashed open. He couldn't have imagined it, it had all been so real-

Where was Bonnie?

He looked though the cameras again, he could still see Freddy and Chica but the bunny animatronic had vanished. Had it gotten outside somehow? Mike was certain he'd locked the door when he'd come in. He checked the feed again, maybe it was hiding in a blind spot somewhere.

Like right outside his door.

He almost fell out of his seat when he caught sight of it, half hidden by shadow only a metre or two away from him. It shifted forward and he forced himself to move, punching the button beside him. The door slid shut, scraping across its nose on the way down.

There was a moment of silence as Mike glanced wildly around. He caught sight of the other door wide open and shut it, too. He looked back and forth between doors, trying to calm down his thudding heart. He was going to be fine, they weren't going to hurt him. They didn't do anything to the endoskeleton, they wouldn't do anything to him. Phone Guy had been wrong.

Something warm trickled down his face and he tasted coppery blood in his mouth. Fantastic, now he had a nosebleed to add to his scratched hands and crippling paranoia. He winced and wiped at it with the back of his hand. The sight of more blood was making him feel sick after seeing the vision of the young girl.

He found a box of tissues he could use to soak up his nosebleed and he glanced at both the doors. He'd have to open them sometime, he didn't want the power to cut out completely before the night ended.

Bonnie was back on stage as if nothing had happened. Mike glowered at the screen as he dropped a wad of red tissues into the bin. Chica was in the east hall, eyes fixed blankly in front of it. The corner of the screen read  _73%_ and Mike hesitantly turned it off. He hated being blind to where the animatronics were, but the last thing he wanted to be was defenceless. Well, he kind of already  _was_ defenceless, but he didn't want to be more than usual.

He glanced at each of the doors in turn and was unsurprised to find the hallways empty. His eyes lingered on the doorway leading to the east hall. He might have imagined the shuffling noise, but that didn't stop him from hitting the button to close it. He still had plenty of power left, anyway.

Feeling slightly more secure, he turned back to the monitor. Currently, he was still safe from Freddy and Bonnie, and Chica had disappeared from view. He turned to face the closed door with a petty feeling of satisfaction.

Something heavy crashed against it, making him jump. Somebody was screaming at him from right outside the door.

" _I_ _know you're in there!_ "

This time, Mike actually  _did_ fall out of his chair.

"Come _on out, did you really think we'd let you get away with it?_ "

The voice sounded like... A little girl? Mike had never imagined a little girl's voice could contain so much venom and fury.

Something struck the door.

" _Come on out!_ " her voice had risen to a shriek, " _Come on out! You can't hide forever, Purple Guy!_ "

"Purple... Guy?" an image of the man with the purple eyes flashed into his head. Were he and this mystery girl connected?

She must have heard him, because an inhuman scream tore through the building as something slammed against the door one last time before the world was thrown into silence.

A few minutes dragged by and Mike didn't move. He finally managed to gather the courage to crawl to his feet and switch on the hall light. Indescribable relief washed over him when he was met with emptiness.

Alright; killer animatronics, freaky girls, murderous purple men, what was next? He groaned and allowed himself a few seconds to bury his head in his hands before returning to the desk.

* * *

An hour later, his nosebleed had returned. His purple shirt now had a red stain down the centre but at that point, he really didn't care.

The three animatronics' faces swam behind the glass windows, they scratched at the doors. He could see their eyes glowing faintly in the dark on the camera feed as they slunk towards him. The night wore on and on and on and on. Blood from his nose tickled his face, reminding him all too much of his vision earlier.

Bonnie's purple eyes glinted in the window and he forced himself to look away.

_Just half an hour longer. I can put up with just half an hour, right?_

Could he?

His eyes kept darting to the number in the corner of the screen that had been steadily decreasing throughout the night. 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%. He tried to look straight at the screen, where Freddy was approaching him from his right. He had to concentrate right now.

At least now, he was certain that he was in danger. If the accusing glares and scratching on the doors hadn't convinced him, the screaming girl sure did.

She'd called him Purple Guy. The only thing he could think of in response to that was the purple-eyed man with the hammer. But Mike couldn't be him, and even if he was, why would the  _animatronics_ be after him?  _How_ could the animatronics be after him? They were just brainless robots, programmed to sing, dance and stuff endoskeletons into suits, apparently.

The west door slid shut just as Bonnie stepped into view. Chica appeared on his left and he hurriedly slammed the other door closed, too. He shrank away as a voice sounded from his left.

" _It is you! It's gotta be you this time!_ "

It was a boy's voice this time. It sounded nothing like Bonnie's singing voice, it was more human yet at the same time. Yet, it held an inhuman ring to it, in a sense that Mike couldn't imagine any human being able to sound as hateful as the thing that was standing outside his door.

" _Let! Us! In!_ " his words were punctuated by something heavy hitting the door, " _I swear, when I get you, I'm gonna TEAR YOUR GUTS OUT!"_

_12%_ , steadily dropping. The entire room seemed to shake every time Bonnie hit the door.

The girl's voice had returned and it was screaming something incoherent at him from the other side of the room. Their two voices clashed in a symphony of rage, the doors crashing and the blood roaring through Mike's head. 

_8%._ 8% already? Mike winced, this was not going to be pretty.

A deep laugh echoed through the building and purple eyes flashed in front of his vision.

Purple eyes blood hammer  _crack_  Freddy bleeding girl purple eyes running crying purple eyes Bonnie Chica screaming purple eyes white-hot pain darkness alone girl Mike purple eyes blood laughing hunted lost purple eyes purple eyes purple eyes purple eyes

The screaming and shouting cut off abruptly, like somebody had pressed pause and an eight-note tune played from somewhere in the building. The Westminster Chimes rang loud and clear and Mike groaned and sat up from where he had been fallen out of his chair. The doors slid open and he dived under the desk, but nothing came into the office. He peeked out to see both halls were empty, the animatronics had returned to the show stage.

He checked his watch; it was 6am at last.

He sighed and ran his hand through his dark blond hair. Well, that was... A unique experience to say the least. He wiped the clotting blood from under his nose and gingerly stood up, fighting the urge to vomit.

The halls were still dark and he was on edge as he limped past Pirate Cove into the dining area. Freddy and his band were motionless on stage, staring off into the distance as if they hadn't moved at all that night.

"Michael!" Mike jumped and screamed in a very undignified manner as the manager unlocked the front doors and strode in, "I see you've made it through your first night! How fantastic! I can see you're perfect for the job!"

"Th-thanks." Mike gasped, trying desperately to slow down his wild heartbeat, "And just call me Mike." he didn't like how she called him Michael. It was just one of the many things that made this place extremely unsettling. 

Mel just smiled at him, "You'll always be Michael to me, Hon." she said in a tone that plainly declared that she wasn't planning on calling him anything else, "How was your first night? Was everything ok? Nothing strange at all?"

Mike studied her face for any sign that might betray her knowing something was up, but it was a mask. A grinning, lipstick-painted white mask.

"No, everything was quiet." he lied. Two could play that game.

Her expression didn't change at all, "That's just wonderful, Michael. Thank you for your hard work, I suppose I'll be seeing you tomorrow!" she strode, humming to the office as Mike glared at the spot where she'd just been standing.

She didn't even comment on his slightly bloodied shirt.

His gaze turned to the animatronics. They stood as still as statues, ready to entertain customers. Slowly, he raised his hand to tough the spot under his eye. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel his bones shattering and hear the children's voices screaming at the person they called Purple Guy, swearing some kind of horrific revenge.

He opened his eyes to find the three on stage staring down at him. He didn't look away.

"Sure, I'll be seeing you again tomorrow." he said.


	4. What They Say

Mike cursed under his breath as he clicked on the twelfth link. Not only was the library's agonisingly slow internet driving him up the wall, but no useful website appeared upon searching 'Freddy Fazbear', 'Freddy Fazbear animatronics' or 'Freddy Fazbear animatronics trying to kill me'. All he got was either the company's official website - which he doubted would have anything to do with what he was looking for - and sites barely related to Fazbear's at all.

_Freddy Fazbear's pizza sucks, I think it's going to kill me with food poisoning. The animatronics are the only good thing about that place._

Nope, entirely useless.

He groaned and rested his head in his hands. He'd returned home and lain in bed for three hours, unable to sleep. At one point, he'd drifted off only to be awoken almost immediately by the blinding pain of the hammer crashing down upon him. After that experience, he'd given up entirely and headed to the library in an attempt to find some kind of meaning to that night.

_Freddy Fazbear hallucinations_

_Freddy Fazbear nightmare_

_Freddy Fazbear death_

The final search had a promising link appear:  _Child Death Outside Pizzeria, Who Is Responsible?_ He hovered the cursor over the words and clicked.

What he found was a rather short article, only a few paragraphs long.

_September 17th, 1983 was the date that Zachariah Moto met his early end outside of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. The family establishment, run by Melanie Carlson had been running well for almost a decade. However, this day was to be the first bloody spot on a previously clean slate._

_Circumstances surrounding the murder are not certain, an employee mentioned that they had seen the boy leave the building and went to check on him. Zachariah was found soon after in the carpark, having been given a lethal injection and minutes from death. An ambulance was called but he died soon after inside the pizzeria. Management attempted to prevent the incident from becoming public, but word spread quickly._

_The pizzeria has received criticism on how closely the children are being supervised, while its manager has only stated "We take the safety of all children with utmost seriousness. If there was something we could have done to prevent this tragic incident, we would have. We give Zachariah's parents our deepest condolences.". However, in_ _spite her words, Carlson has received much backlash from the community and several death threats._

_Despite the possible risk to their children, many parents remain supportive of Freddy Fazbear's, "Just one incident doesn't change anything. It was an unfortunate occurrence for sure, but that doesn't justify ruining the experience for other children." says an anonymous fan of the pizzeria, "Fazbear's has been successful for years, don't let one slip-up bring it all down."_

_The reactions to Zachariah's ending are varied, though many hold management accountable for what had happened. "We understand the danger." Carlson stated when interviewed, "And upon your request, we're going to fix our gaps in security. From here on, we promise that Fazbear's will be the safest place for children."_

The article ended rather abruptly there. There was a photo at the bottom of a boy no older than 10 sitting by a smiling woman who Mike guessed had to be his mother. The boy had long dark bangs that his brown eyes peeked nervously behind. A tiny smile quirked at the corner of his mouth on his pale face. Despite the cheery nature of the picture, Zachariah looked like he was on the verge of tears, as if he knew exactly what was going to happen to him and was powerless to stop it.

Unnerved a little, Mike closed the window. He doubted that he could find anything else that would remotely be of use. And even that article had barely told him anything. So a kid had died there, so what? That didn't explain the kids, or the purple man. Mike didn't believe in ghosts and even if the place  _was_ haunted, why would they be after  _him_?  _He_ hadn't killed anybody.

He got up to let somebody else use the computer and he wandered deeper among the rows of bookshelves. The internet had been useless, the pizzeria probably wasn't big enough to have any books written about it, where else could he look?

His eyes fell upon the section where the old newspapers were kept, including the local paper.

Oooh, perfect.

If anything had happened to the pizzeria; a history of break-ins, vandals, anything weird that could have happened had been recorded. The only problem was that he had no idea  _when_ to look.

Oh well, he had plenty of time.

The next hour or so was spent sitting on the floor, scanning each and every local paper for any mention of Fazbear's. There was the occasional ad reporting that positions were open and they were hiring, but aside from that there was nothing. 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988... The paper was published every month, how many more did he have to read through before he found what he was looking for?

What exactly _was_ he looking for, anyway?

He shoved that thought away as he picked up the next paper. 1987. January, nothing. February, nothing. March, nothing. April, nothing. Frustration steadily growing, he tossed each paper carelessly to the side. This visit really was turning into a huge waste of time. His eyes scanned the dates, hadn't Phone Guy said that there was a Bite of '87? So far, he hadn't found anything about a bite. Or Fazbear's in general, for the matter.

He was just about to give up on '87 and try the next year when he noticed that there was one missing. November was supposed to have four newspapers but there were only three. He checked the old box he'd found them in in case he'd misplaced it, but the box was empty.

Thinking rationally, it was just one week. It wasn't as if it was too important.

Unless...

Something happened November 1987. Something bad enough that the records had to be removed.

That, or maybe the library just didn't have that issue. He could be making a huge deal out of nothing.

Still, it didn't hurt to ask.

Ask who? He began to clean up the mess he had created as he noticed the looks he was getting from the other patrons. He highly doubted the library was going to give him anything, he'd have to wait until his shift started again to listen to Phone Guy (and even then, he didn't know how useful that source was) and he had a feeling Mel wasn't about to spill any sort of dark secrets about her pizzeria to a new employee. Perhaps he could ask somebody else who worked there, but he didn't know anybody except Nikki.

Well then, Nikki it was.

* * *

"Hey."

Nikki looked up to where Mike was awkwardly loitering next to her. She tossed the rag she was using to clean the table over her shoulder, "Hey, you're early. Shouldn't you be asleep or something?"

"I couldn't sleep so I came back here." it wasn't exactly a lie. He stared awkwardly at the table's surface. The only thing that appeared to have been actually cleaned were the carpets, the tables were still as filthy and disgusting as ever, "Nobody would care if I'm here four hours early, will they?"

"Nobody cares about anything here." Nikki responded flatly, "All they want is for the week to end so they can get payed."

Fair enough, working here was hell. Or at least, it was in Mike's experience.

"You feeling ok? You look tired." Nikki noted.

"I  _am_ tired." he responded bluntly, how was he supposed to initiate a conversation about weird happenings? 'Hi, has anything strange or creepy happened here? Just asking!'? How was he meant to say anything without sounded suspicious or weird?

All he knew that there was something wrong about this place, and he didn't know who to talk to without people thinking he was crazy. There were JF and Phone Guy, but Mike had no idea what their real names were meant to be or how to find them. The only to workers who he'd spoken to were Mel and Nikki. Mel definitely would know the most about her pizzeria, but she also had the power to fire him if he asked about something she didn't like. And if he got fired, there was no way he'd be able to return.

He thought over what to say and how to put it so that he wouldn't sound insane.

"I kind of lied to Mel this morning about everything being quiet." he said carefully, "I think somebody got inside."

Nikki blinked, looking mildly interested, "Seriously? Did they take anything? What happened?"

Mike hesitated, not sure how much he should tell her, "It was a kid." he said, "Actually, there were two. I'm not sure how they could have gotten in, though. They didn't take anything, they just... Shouted..."

She snickered, "Anything else?"

"No, they just disappeared. I didn't see where they got out, either."

She smirked and dramatically wiggled her fingers, "Maybe they're the ghosts of the missing children!" she gasped, her eyes comically wide before she broke into a grin, "Seriously though, I think you should've told Mel. If some kids can get inside, it'll only be a matter of time before adults do. And she'll flip if anything happens to her precious animatronics."

Mike didn't even listen to the second half of what she said, "Did you say 'missing children'?" he did not like the sound of that at all. He had never believed in ghosts and he wasn't going to start now, but children going missing  _did_ sound somewhat important. He remembered the missing newspapers in the library and wondered just how bad something would have had to be in order to be covered up like that.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard!" she glanced around to make sure nobody was listening in, her grin still stretched across her face, "Alright, don't tell Mel I told you this. She  _hates_ it when anybody brings up Fazbear Entertainment's greatest failures and would rather everybody forgets about them."

That explained the missing newspapers and the lack of information online. Something really big must have happened for somebody to go through so much trouble to keep it hidden.

Finally, he was getting somewhere.

"We can't talk here." Nikki told him, indicating to Mel who was chatting to the only customer on the other side of the room, "Come on." she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the main hall and back to the storage closet she had taken him to when he'd came to apply.

"Alright, so it happened back in 1987." she said, her voice low and excited, like a schoolgirl spreading a nasty rumour about somebody she didn't like, "This is what I heard from the employees that had worked here before me: Fazbear's was  _not_ having a good day. They had two parties booked and the entire pizzeria was full. And at this time, they were actually doing really well. I think the public must have finally forgotten about that time a kid was poisoned in the carpark."

"A kid  _what-_ " Mike began to exclaim but Nikki shushed him.

Zachariah. She was talking about the kid he'd read about. He couldn't help but feel a little glad that the trip to the library wasn't a complete waste of time, after all.

"Keep your voice down, it'll look weird if somebody found the two of us hanging out in a closet. Anyways, so there were these two parties. And that day, Fazbear Entertainment witnessed it's two biggest fuck-ups in history." she paused for dramatic effect. Or maybe just to listen for approaching footsteps, "One of the guards went into the back office, tailed by an animatronic. Apparently, everyone thought it was adorable until he didn't come back. Someone went to check on him, only to find that the thing-" she mimed crushing something with her hands, "- bit the poor sucker's head right open."

"The Bite of '87." Mike finished, recalling Phone Guy's mention of it before catching sight of the dirty look he was getting, "Sorry, continue."

Nikki looked a little irritated at being interrupted but said nothing of it, "I was just getting to that. Anyways, the adults went into panic-mode, trying to call an ambulance while hiding the dying guard from the fifty or so kids that were in the same building." her face broke into a grin as she got to the good part, "Somehow in the confusion that followed the Bite, five kids mysteriously vanished. One employee claimed that they'd seen the kids being led into a back room by somebody wearing a mascot costume, but no leads were ever found, the security tapes had been deleted. The kids were gone. _Poof_ , vanished."

Mike stared at her blankly, "That's it?" he hadn't been sure what else he should have expected to have happened in something called the 'missing children incident', but he'd been hoping for some information on the animatronics, or his crazy hallucinations somehow.

"Well..." Nikki added slowly, "I also heard that the next morning, all that was found was a blood-soaked carpet and that night's security guard looking pretty out of it. But that's all I know."

The security guard? Now that Mike thought of it, the guard would have had access to the security feeds and would have been able to erase footage of a murder. He was probably the most likely suspect. Good thing the sicko was most definitely behind bars now.

"The kids were declared 'missing', but anyone can tell that they were murdered." Nikki went on, "I guess it's because they never found the bodies. But they're probably long gone by now. Everyone here knows about the incident and so barely any locals visit anymore. At least that doesn't affect my paycheck, though."

Mike just nodded, not entirely sure what to say.

She caught sight of his slightly dazed expression and added with a sigh, "Look, I don't know why you wanted to know this, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it if I were you. It happened years ago, those kids are most likely dead and if they weren't, there's no way they'd still be hanging around here. It was probably just some local delinquents who thought it would be fun to scare the night guard."

"Yeah, probably." Mike agreed, though he wasn't entirely reassured. But that had to be the only logical explanation, right? All the same, working in the same building where a kid had been murdered and several more kidnapped made him feel ever so slightly uneasy. But he could live with that, all that he had to worry about were the animatronics and their bizarre programming.

"I just have one last question for you." he said tiredly.

"Ask away."

"You don't think anybody would mind if I sleep in the office, do you?"

She shrugged, "Nah. Even if they would, I won't tell. You look like you're about to drop dead any second."

"Awesome, thanks." he sighed, shrugging off his jacket and folding it to make a pillow, "Wake me up before my shift starts, please."

* * *

"Fritz? Fritz, did you see this?"

Jeremy barely noticed how whiny his voice was sounding but at that moment, he didn't care. He frantically waved last week's paper in the air despite the fact that he knew Fritz couldn't see it, "Have you seen this?"

A sigh sounded from underneath the car and Fritz rolled out, hands smeared with grease and dark hair bleeding from his ponytail, "Did I see what?" he asked with an air of impatience. He didn't flinch as the paper was thrust into his face.

" _This_!" Jeremy indicated at something on the page, "Freddy Fazbear's is hiring again, something must have happened. And now somebody's stuck working the night shift and is in danger and-"

Fritz cut in impassively, "You do realise that this is a week old, right?"

"So?" Jeremy challenged, "You know what it's like there! At least the last guard had experience, this guy's as good as dead!" why did Fritz have to act so... So... So  _unconcerned_? Couldn't he see that somebody's life was probably on the line? He crossed his arms and tried to slow down his breathing and calm down.

Deep breaths, deep breaths. You're going to be ok. Nothing had happened yet.

Fritz sighed again, folded the paper and handed it back to Jeremy before sliding back under the car, "So what do you plan on doing, then?" he called, voice muffled slightly from the vehicle sitting in between them.

This caught Jeremy off guard. "What do I-" what  _had_ he planned on doing, exactly? He had been cleaning the apartment (a rare occurrence) when he'd stumbled across the ad by accident. The last time he'd seen that ad, it had been followed by... Well, he didn't like to think about the experiences that followed him being hired. But seeing it and remembering what he'd been put through gave him an uncontrollable urge to do something, anything. He couldn't stand thinking about somebody living his nightmares.

In the silence that followed, Fritz began to talk again, "That's your problem, Jeremy. You don't plan ahead. You didn't think ahead then and you're not thinking ahead now. What's your plan now? Do you want to warn the guard? By now, he should be fully aware that he's in danger. If he's not dead already, at least."

"But maybe..." Jeremy hesitated, he hated it when his half-formed ideas were shut down with cold, hard logic, "Maybe... I could...  Probably..."

"Jerry," there was an edge to his words, "it's your choice. But do you  _really_ want to get involved?"

That shut him up. Honestly, he didn't. He had wanted nothing more for years than to put that place behind him. He'd been hoping that maybe with enough time, it and everything in it would eventually fade from his memories. But seeing the ad was like reality had slapped him in the face; the place was still open, it was still hiring, and the night shift was still a danger to any guard stupid or desperate enough to take up the job. Sure, Jeremy could pretend that the danger wasn't there as long as it wasn't affecting  _him_ , but that made him feel selfish. He didn't know how he'd feel if he just stood by and let this keep happening.

But wasn't that exactly what he'd been doing since '87?

Jeremy sighed and sat down heavily on the dirty floor of the garage, "I don't know." he admitted, "I don't want anything more to do with Fazbear's and I know you don't, either. But..." he trailed away. He wasn't sure if he could properly explain what he was feeling to Fritz and even if he could, he didn't know if the older man would understand.

"What could you do, anyway?"

He just shrugged silently, defeated. Alright, so he hadn't thought any of this through. He hadn't planned ahead. He'd just seen the ad and acted on impulse without considering any possible action. He felt like a kid again. A stupid kid who thought being a security guard would be an easy way to make some money.

But no, his time at Fazbear's was over. He had put all of that behind him. He was not about to dive headfirst back into that mess just because somebody he didn't know was dumb enough to get hired.

He'd just... Keep an eye on Freddy Fazbear's, that's all. He would  _not_ get involved. He would  _not_  get too close, he'd just pay close attention to it for the next few days. He would definitely  _not_ get stressed out over this. 

Without thinking, his fingers brushed the scars on his forehead. They were barely noticeable years after the incident and within a few more years, they would fade completely. 

"Jerry." Fritz had re-emerged from beneath the car, "Don't feel bad. After all, he can't be  _completely_ incompetent, can he?"

Fritz's words didn't reassure him in the slightest. Nonetheless, he said nothing. 


	5. Night Two: A Plea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas, you get a chapter.

_Somebody was watching him. He could see a pair of eyes a deep shade of purple glaring at him through the darkness. Jagged teeth glinted in a manic grin as the man took a silent step toward him._

_Mike ran._

_The Purple Guy snarled and gave chase. The pizzeria's rooms flashed by as Mike struggled to put distance between them, but the blood soaking the carpet was steadily starting to rise to form deep puddles that he stumbled and splashed through._

_His legs dragged through the thick scarlet liquid, slowing him to almost a stop. Purple Guy was right behind him, he'd catch up any second and if he did..._

_The blood had become a lake, filling his mouth with a disgustingly coppery taste. He gagged as it forced its way down his throat and covered him completely._

_And then he was drowning._

_All he could see was red. He thrashed, panic taking over him completely. He didn't want to die here, all alone. He couldn't. He had to live._

_His lungs felt like they were being shredded and he was forced to breathe in a lungful of blood. Agony ripped through his chest as it flooded him._

_Somebody grabbed ahold of the front of his shirt, forcing him to look up. Through his darkened, hazy vision he could just make out the girl. Half her face had been completely shattered and was falling to pieces, blonde hair floated lifelessly through the bloody pool and her empty sockets where her eyes had once been stared blankly at him._

_"I couldn't save them." Her voice sounded so distant._

_Mike gave up struggling. He couldn't even save himself._

_"You couldn't save us."_

_He could barely see her now, the darkness had almost completely taken over his vision. His head spun from the lack of oxygen._

_"And now look at you, you can't save yourself either."_

_He was dimly aware of somebody dragging him upwards and he broke the surface, coughing up mouthfuls of blood. He forced himself to move, somehow managing to keep afloat as he flailed toward solid ground._

_For the next few minutes, he lay gasping on the carpet, the taste of blood consuming him. He closed his eyes, wishing that he could just die already and get all of this over with._

_A shadow fell over him. Freddy was standing beside him, staring inquisitively down at the half-drowned man. Mike glared up at it, too weak to move._

_Freddy tipped its head to one side. As the light hit its eyes, they looked almost..._

**_Purple_ **

_Its thick paws were around Mike's neck. He struggled in vain to prise the animatronics hands off him, there was a sickening crunching sound as his throat was crushed and then-_

Somebody was shaking him awake. Nikki jumped back as he almost punched her, "Calm down, it's just me!"

Mike groaned and wiped away the drool that had been hanging from his mouth, "Sorry, bad dream."

She rolled her eyes, "No need to try and kill me, you know." she said, though she didn't sound angry, "It's still two hours until your shift starts, you really going to hang around here 'til then?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Don't you have anything better to do?"

Mike just shrugged, "Not really. I can always find some way to kill time."

Nikki left soon afterwards and the two hours passed with him dozing in the office, trying to catch up on sleep. Even though it wasn't yet 12, he kept the doors shut. He figured that it'll be alright as the restrictions on his power usage only started when his shift did. He jerked awake when the phone started ringing and hastily opened both doors.

" _Hello? Hello?_ " the recording sounded dangerously loud in the silence, " _Um, well, congratulations on making it to night two!_ "

"Yay." Mike said flatly. Something had to be seriously wrong with this place if making it through just one night was an achievement.

" _Er listen, I-I'm not going to talk as long tonight because the animatronics tend to get a lot more active as the week progresses so ah, just be careful._ "

As if he wasn't already. Mike sighed as he looked through the video feed, at least the animatronics hadn't moved. He was just glad there there were only three he had to keep an eye on.

Unfortunately, just as that thought crossed his mind, Phone Guy added:

" _I recommend keeping an eye on Pirate Cove, Foxy is a lot faster than the others and is a lot closer to your office_."

A  _fourth_ animatronic? He was starting to feel like this wasn't his night already. Three had been more than enough for him to keep looking out for, and if they really  _did_ get more active as the week went by...

He glared at the dimly-lit screen, liking this place less and less with every passing second.

" _Er, so by now, you should probably know what you're doing. Check the cameras and make sure to check the blind spots right outside your doors, um... I think that's about all I need to tell you, you'll do just fine._ " he said that a little too much to be reassuring, " _Um, I guess I'll leave you another message tomorrow night, then..._ " there was an awkward silence before the other man hung up.

What else did Phone Guy have to tell him about tomorrow night? A fifth animatronic? Giant ghost bunnies? Evil shadow people? This was getting ridiculous; whose idea was it to program the animatronics to be like this in the first place?

All the same, it wouldn't do him any good to try and point the blame at somebody. It certainly won't stop him from getting mauled by singing robots, that's for sure.

Fortunately, none of the animatronics onstage had moved and Pirate Cove appeared to be empty. At least, that was the best assumption that Mike could make as far as he could see. A large, starry curtain hid whatever Pirate Cove and its animatronic consisted of from view. At least Mike knew what to be expecting: a giant, homicidal fox. Just what he needed.

At least it would still be a while until they reached the office. He turned off the monitor, hating the feeling of helplessness that loomed over him. He couldn't fight back, he could only wait as they slowly closed in on him and when they did reach him... Well, he just had to make sure they didn't get close.

Shifting uncomfortably, he stared hard at the blank screen. He'd wanted to come back tonight to make some kind of sense out of what he'd seen, but he had no idea how to make  _that_ happen. The last thing he wanted to do was actually get caught, so he supposed that he'd have to find a way around that.

So there were four animatronics, all with faulty programming. How come they were able to go on like that for so long? If Phone Guy knew that they had a glitch, surely the management knew too and would have fixed it by now. If night guards had gone missing in the past, Mel definitely would have noticed.

Unless, of course, the management was well aware and was letting it happen. However, what was there to gain in that? If anything, people getting killed on their property was a massive disadvantage for Fazbear Entertainment. Of course, Phone Guy had been taking the shift for what, 5 - 6 years now? That meant that an incident like that hadn't happened in over half a decade. Maybe Mel thought that the problem had been fixed.

Which of course, it hadn't. Mike was still being stalked by a gang of murderous animatronics and was in as much danger as the other guards before him.

He didn't like the way he'd just thought that. The word 'stalked' was probably one of the best he could think of to fit the situation he was in, but it implied that the animatronics actually knew what they were doing. Which they didn't and couldn't. They were just dumb robots, programmed to sing the same stupid songs and wander aimlessly around the pizzeria at night.

Chewing on his lip, he checked the cameras quickly. All three animatronics on the stage were staring directly at the screen. Almost as if they knew he was watching him.

No, that was impossible. He shook his head and chided himself for his naivety. Those things couldn't think, they were made from metal and wires and were programmed with a simple artificial intelligence that let them do little more than walk, sing and - it appeared - occasionally respond to finding a naked endoskeleton.

But no, that wasn't right. Last night, Bonnie had stood right next to the endoskeleton in the backstage and had barely looked at it. Maybe it just hadn't seen it? But then, how could they be expected to see the night guard?

None of this made any sense. Did or didn't the animatronics want to stuff endoskeletons into suits? As far as Mike could see it, it looked like the animatronics only wanted to stuff  _him_ into a suit. But why on Earth would they want to do that? Who in their right mind would program them to harm the guards? And how could they get away with it for so long, too?

He was torn away from that thought when he realised that he forgotten to check on Pirate Cove for his new friend. He peered hard at the screen, was that just static or was the curtain rippling as if something had nudged it? Hastily, he checked the other cameras leading up to the office to see if the animatronic had moved toward him, but the west hall was empty. At least Foxy hadn't moved yet.

He noticed the way he checked the cameras, looking only at the ones that led directly to his office. Maybe it was just the paranoia, but he was treating the animatronics as if they were heading straight for him instead of wandering around like they were supposed to. In order to defy that feeling, he checked all the other cameras to make sure he hadn't missed Foxy. All he found was that Bonnie and Chica had already left the stage and were standing in the dining area.

Well fantastic. Ten minutes into his shift and they were already coming for him.

No, not 'coming for him'. They were just randomly wandering, they couldn't be actively hunting him down.

Trying his best not to think about the idea of being hunted, no matter how impossible it was, he tried to entertain the thought of 'well, at least Foxy's still behind his stupid curtain where I can't see him' with little results.

Phone Guy wasn't going to say anything more for tonight and Mike was running in circles trying to make his own theories to what was happening. His eyes fell on the frayed textbook that still lay open where he had left it on the desk. He was slightly reluctant to see what JF had to offer after the terrifying hallucination he had after reading it the other night. Plus, the unsettling contents wasn't something he exactly enjoyed reading. But if that was his only other way of learning something about this place...

He sighed, checked the cameras one last time and started to read. The next page was blank, but he soon found the faint writing drifting across the paper in the dark.

_There was once a young boy who cared too much. He was a very empathetic child and he felt great sorrow when people around him got hurt. Despite not having any friends and constantly being ignored by his peers, the boy made sure never to hurt another person in any way, for he remained kind and aware of the feelings of others no matter what._

_All he wanted to do was make people happy. All he wanted to do was stop all the suffering that happened in the world around him._   _Until one day, all of that changed._

_Somebody hurt him in a way that could never be undone. The boy felt something in him that he had never experienced before: the desire to harm somebody in return._

_For years, he searched for the one that had hurt him so badly, taking on a new form. He slunk through the long shadows of the night, a puppet without strings lying in wait for his murderer to one day return._

The next few paragraphs had been scribbled over and the next page had been torn out entirely. The writing continued after that.

_He's right here, I can feel his presence. Don't misunderstand, he's not a bad person. I think I get what he's feeling right now, being alone, being isolated... If only he didn't make me feel that way. But he's just a kid, like me. He's just a scared kid who doesn't know what he's doing... Like me. I think he's just angry. Angry at the world that wronged him. Maybe one day, he'll be able to see his mistakes and finally understand. He's just human after all, it's so easy to forget that._

_Writing tires me. I have to stop eventually. I can't rely on the ghosts of the past to keep me safe. Sooner or later, he'll find me. And like he was, I'm helpless._

Well, that was... Useless. Scary, unsettling, creepy, and useless. Mike sighed to himself and reread the passage, this was just somebody writing a horror story to pass the time. It was useless and didn't help his paranoia at all.

Trying to take his mind off what he'd just read, he checked the positions of the animatronics. Freddy and Foxy still hadn't moved and Bonnie and Chica were a few metres closer to the halls.

The shadows looked even longer throughout the building and Mike involuntarily shivered as he turned the screen off. He really shouldn't have been reading about murdered children at this time...

Murdered children...

Hadn't a boy been killed here? Zachariah, that was his name. The boy from the article he'd read that day. He'd died in one of these rooms. And then there was the Missing Children Incident...

No, that was just plain illogical. Zachariah was dead and those five kids that had gone missing were long gone by now. What connection could they have with the animatronics? Mike couldn't even _force_ himself to believe in ghosts and even if that was the case (and that was a big if), what did they want Mike for? He hadn't done anything to piss them off.

Phone Guy had said it was a glitch and that was the explanation that Mike found most likely. Some kind of glitch that was  _supposed_ to work on endoskeletons but ended up turning the animatronics against humans, instead.

But if the glitch turned them against humans, why were the customers safe during the day?

He groaned aloud; this was going nowhere.

Neither Bonnie or Chica had moved far, that was a relief. He wasn't surprised to see Freddy hadn't budged. He glanced over at Pirate Cove, thankfully the mysterious Foxy hadn't emerged yet. He was about to switch the screen off when he caught sight of the curtain parting slightly.

It looked a bit like... A hook? Something silvery had shifted part of the curtain to one side. Mike couldn't make it out properly through the darkness and static, but he couldn't deny that something definitely was there. He tried to make out what was hiding in the cove through the small gap in the curtain, but he couldn't see anything apart from the disembodied hook.

Was that Foxy?

What else could it be? All the other animatronics were in pain sight and the place  _was_ called Pirate Cove.

Even after switched the monitor off, he could almost still see the image lingering before his eyes and his shook his head to clear his mind of it. Trying desperately to find something else to think of, he turned to the open exercise book on the desk. What else did JF have to offer?

Quickly, he glanced out of each of the doors to make sure nothing was too close for comfort and scanned the paled pages. 

Something something, third night, something something, scared, something something, shadows, something something, Bonnie. With a sigh, he shut the book and placed it back in the desk's bottom drawer.

So Phone Guy was useless, JF (whoever they were) was useless, how was he supposed to figure out the mystery out now?

Well, he supposed that nobody was ever going to tell him the whole story of... Whatever was wrong with this place. He just had to find a way to discover it on his own. But just thinking about it too much was useless; any ideas just went around in circles.

What he needed was something that could tell him how the animatronics worked. Something that he could get his hands on that would definitely contain all the important details about the animatronics, their purposes, any potential glitches... He needed their instruction manuals.

They had to be in the office, right? That was the most logical place to put instructions on this franchise's star attractions. His burst of excitement was drawn short when he soon found no trace of any sort of manual. There was barely anything to be found about the animatronics in general in the office as far as he could see. He was turning the desk drawers inside out for a third time when it suddenly struck him he hadn't checked on the actual animatronics for a while.

Freddy - slow as usual - had finally decided to step down from the stage, Chica had fortunately gone completely off-course and was loitering near the restrooms on the other side of the building and Bonnie was in the west hall, way too close for Mike's liking. How long would it take for it to reach him? Five minutes? Ten? It was impossible to tell with these things.

He was about to turn off the monitor when he remembered his new acquaintance. Mentally cursing, he changed cameras to Pirate Cove.

The curtain had parted much further and he could see a pair of eyes staring right at him.

No, whatever that thing was, it was staring at the  _camera_. It couldn't possibly know that Mike was watching it, he was probably having some kind of fear-induced delusion.

Stupid fox...

He went back to his search for some kind of instructions. Maybe they'll tell him how to make the animatronics slightly less active. That'll make his - and any other future guard's - job much easier. Hopefully he wouldn't get fired if he tampered with them just a little.

But after five minutes of turning the cluttered office upside down, he still hadn't found anything. Maybe they were in the supply closet or backstage. Neither of those rooms were places he particularly wanted to visit.

He checked the desk again, even going through each individual stack of papers without finding even a trace of something that could be considered a manual for the animatronics. There were plenty of leaflets advertising the pizzeria though, describing it as a ' _fun, safe environment for kids and grownups alike_ '.

That was the best joke he'd heard all week.

He checked the cameras again. Foxy, Freddy and Chica were where he'd last seen them... Where was Bonnie?

It had to be in one of the halls, but they were empty. He checked them both once more to be certain but didn't catch a glimpse of it.

Shakily, he reached out to press the switch for the light directly outside the office and Bonnie's face was lit up in the window.

Needless to say; he screamed, almost fell over and all but punched the door button.

Desperately trying to recover from his brief panic attack, he clambered back into his chair and hurriedly checked to make sure none of the other animatronics were approaching from his other side.

Freddy - Oh thank God, that dumb bear hadn't moved. Chica was a little closer to the office but fortunately not close enough that Mike had to shut the east door. Hopefully, Foxy wouldn't have left Pirate Cove yet...

He really shouldn't have tempted fate, the curtains had been flung wide open and the fox was in full view. Finally, Mike could see what the thing looked like.

Foxy looked like it was in far less shape than the others onstage, its red fabric covering was ragged and the colour was fading in some places. Its entire suit in general looked like it had seen better days with a few holes here and there in the material. Its half-lidded eyes stared blankly up at the camera and its hook was raised slightly, as if it was contemplating whether or not to charge him down.

No, it couldn't be contemplating anything. That was impossible, it just so happened to be looking at him and its face was probably permanently stuck in that creepy expression.

He was safe, he was perfectly safe. He wasn't going to be caught. 

Feeling a little more confident, Mike glanced up and down the empty corridor. Nothing was going to hurt him, he'd just be in and out.

Somewhere behind him, Mike could hear footsteps. The slow, plodding footsteps of an adult. Hearing them, he froze up. It was after hours, he'd be in trouble if the guard caught him.

Hissing a curse, he ducked through the first doorway he could see and pressed himself against the wall. He held his breath as the footsteps passed by him and shrank deeper into the shadows when he heard them pause right by the door to his room. In the dim lighting, he could just make out the man's silhouette thrown against the floor beside him. 

After what seemed like years, the man continued on his way and his footsteps faded away into another part of the building. Mike sighed in relief, glancing out into the hallway to make sure he was gone for good. 

The room he'd chosen to hide in looked like one used for parties, with tables set in rows and long banners and streamers hanging from the ceiling. It looked almost eerie in the dark, absent of any life.

He was about to step out when he caught sight of something sticking out from behind one of the tables. He'd almost missed it in the darkness.

Somebody was lying in the very centre of the room, a red stain among the otherwise pristine setting of neatly set up furniture and spotless carpet.

The boy's dark brown hair was matted with clotting blood. Both his legs were twisted at odd angles. One of his eyes was ruptured and a clear jelly dribbled down his face from his eye socket.

"Help me, please." his voice was ragged, every breath agony as his words came out in wheezed gasps.

Mike shook his head, backing away. What was this? What had happened? Had a person done this?

"Don't go, please-" the boy was cut off by a hacking fit of coughing, bloodied spittle forming in the corners of his mouth, "He'll come back! I don't want him to-" he tried to drag himself forward but stopped with a whimper of pain.

Mike took another step back and hit a wall, shrinking behind a nearby table as he listened to the boy's helpless sobs and pleading.

"Don't leave me, please don't leave me..."

Mike shuffled under the table, hoping that the boy would think that he'd left. He couldn't bear to listen to another second of his wheezing breath.

He heard the sound of the footsteps returning a few seconds before the boy did. Heavy, purposeful footsteps. A moment later, the man appeared in the room holding a silver hammer stained red.

The man's purple eyes scanned the room, coming to rest of the boy lying helplessly on the ground. A grin spread across his darkened features.

"I was wondering where you'd gotten to!"

An ugly sob escaped the boy and he struggled to crawl away, his legs dragging uselessly behind him but the Purple Guy simply strolled over, placing his foot gingerly over the boy's hand.

"Now now, what's the rush? I don't bite!" he put his full weight on the boy's hand and a sickening crack sounded through the almost deathly silent building.

His sobbing turned to screams as Mike curled himself into a tight ball under the table, a papery white tablecloth the only thing between him and the murderer.

About ten minutes later, the boy's wheezing finally stopped.

And then he was back in the office, staring right ahead at the dusty old posters on the wall above the monitor.

He clenched his fists to stop his hands from shaking, biting his lip and drawing blood. He'd thought the previous night's hallucination was just a one-time experience, some kind of panic-caused nightmare that he'd hoped wouldn't return.

He hunched over, feeling nauseous and hissed in displeasure when he realised his nose was bleeding. Again.

During the hallucination, it felt like him. He felt like all of that really was happening to him. But it couldn't possibly have, he hadn't moved from the office. And if he _had_ found a dead body and had his face smashed open in the past, he would definitely have remembered it. He dropped a blood-soaked tissue in the bin that was already spilling over with rubbish, feeling frustrated. None of this made any sense, the animatronics' apparent desire to have him dead, these now recurring hallucinations, Phone Guy's insistence that he was going to be alright despite the fact that he obviously wasn't...

His eyes fell on the monitor that he had left on, just as a red shape disappeared from the screen.

Reaching out with one hand, he changed cameras so that he could see into the west hall where Foxy would be standing. He heard the thud of footsteps on carpet and his eyes widened as the animatronic all but sprinted down the corridor.

It appeared in the doorway just as he flung himself at the button. It lashed out with it's hook hand and it clanged noisily against the door as it dropped down.

Mike panted, leaning against the wall and stared at the door as the animatronic slammed against it.

BANG

BANG

BANG

What the hell was wrong with this place?

He felt something wet against his wrist and a stinging feeling in his arm. He glanced down to see that his jacket had been ripped open and there was a cut on his forearm.

Mike swore, tearing his jacket off before it could sustain any more damage and fumbled to cover his wound that was steadily streaming blood from between his fingers. How come every night at this job ended up with him bleeding one way or another? He glared at the door as his grip on his forearm tightened.

Something made a shuffling noise behind the door and a few seconds later, the sound of heavy yet quick footsteps receded into nothing.

Mike glanced around the room for something he could use as a makeshift bandage. The only semi-absorbent thing he could find was paper, but he was pretty sure Mel wouldn't be happy if he bled all over her documents.

Closing the other door to make sure nothing could creep up on him, he peeled his purple work shirt off and bandaged himself as best he could. The cut wasn't particularly deep, but the bleeding was still heavy. At least it was his left arm that was hurt, he didn't want to have to make it through the night without his dominant hand.

He shook his head to clear it, but only succeeded in making himself dizzy. Sighing through his teeth, he flopped into the swivel seat and switched the monitor on. No matter how hard he was bleeding, he wasn't going to let Freddy Fazfuck and his gang of freaks anywhere near him.

Fortunately, Foxy had already pissed off back to Pirate Cove, pulling the starry curtains shut behind it. Upon seeing that Bonnie was still a while away from reaching him, Mike begrudgingly opened the west door. Chica... Well, Chica was in the east hall, about five metres from the door. It was way too close for comfort, but the animatronics weren't moving particularly fast that night...

He settled with leaving the door closed. He couldn't afford to let his guard down with the animatronic that close and with him struggling not to bleed out, he was already distracted enough as it was.

Twisting his left arm as much as he could before it hurt, Mike managed to read  _4:57_ from his watch. Awesome, almost a hour left. As long as he didn't die from blood loss he should be fine.

And speaking of blood loss...

Dark spots were beginning to form around the edges of his vision and Mike doubled over, squeezing his eyes shut. Now was  _not_ the right time to black out! He could feel the bile rising in his throat as nausea began to set in.

_NOT NOW NOT NOW NOT NOW NOT NOW!!!_

He tumbled from his chair and curled up on the grimy carpet, desperate to get more blood-flow to his head. By now, his bandage had soaked a deep reddish shade of purple that somehow reminded Mike too much of his nightmare earlier that night.

He swallowed the drool that was threatening to spill from his mouth. Through his lashes, he could just make out the open west door right in front of him. If Bonnie or Foxy chose this very moment to approach him, he was dead meat.

Hours seemed to drag by as he lay there. And then slowly, slowly, he could feel his head beginning to clear. His head still spun when he dragged himself into a sitting position, but at least he wasn't going to faint.

Gently, he began to unwrap his bloody shirt from his arm and was relieved to see the cut had almost stopped bleeding entirely, though it still oozed blood. He sighed and ran a reddened hand through his hair, a combination of sweat and blood causing it to stick up.

Just one more hour left.  _One more hour_. He could do this. He could make it.

With great effort, he somehow managed to pull himself into the chair. If he kept his left arm immobile and resting on the seat's armrest, he figured he should be able to make it through the night without damaging it any more than it already was. 

Chica was no longer visible on the cameras. Mike cast a glance to his right where he knew the chicken animatronic was lurking behind the door and briefly considered flipping it off before deciding that was far too childish even for him. He ended up settling with clinging onto his wound in an attempt to stop the sluggish bleeding completely.

Time dragged by agonisingly slowly. After successfully fending off Bonnie and Foxy again and monitoring with increasing concern Freddy's slow but steady path to the office, Mike glanced impatiently down at his watch. Thirty minutes. It felt closer to thirty  _years_. He hissed in pain when he shifted his arm the wrong way and pulled at the damaged flesh. Could this night get any worse?

Fortunately, Freddy's bandmates were back onstage where they belonged and Foxy was back to skulking behind his starry purple curtain. Only Freddy himself was of any real concern at the moment and he still hadn't reached the hallways to the office yet.

With a look of distaste, Mike turned the screen off. He just had to put up with these four freaks for half an hour more. Granted, half an hour in this hellhole felt ridiculously longer but he wasn't in the position to complain at the moment. With nothing better to do, he opened JF's book and flicked through the pages.

Some were filled with words, covering pages upon pages of letters cramped together that were unreadable half the time due to fading from age. Other pages had only a few paragraphs before the author seemed to simply give up - sometimes halfway through a sentence. One such short passage seemed to draw Mike's attention more than the others. He was uncertain if that was due to what had been written or the fact that it was considerably bolder than the others, as if JF had traced over the words several times while writing them.

 **_One two three four five_ **  
**_How did you come back alive?_**  
**_Six seven eight nine ten_**  
**_Shouldn't have come here again_ **

The things this place did to the mind. Mike was just glad that he wasn't the only person who deeply regretted coming back to this job. Curiosity and horrible judgement appeared to affect more than just him.

The page was smeared with his own blood as Mike turned the page. Glancing down at his injured arm, he was torn between maintaining pressure on it and not touching it entirely in fear of it getting infected. He still had to survive the next thirty minutes until he could seek some real medical help.

After quickly checking on Freddy and feeling rather satisfied that the bear hadn't gotten far, he turned a few more pages. He couldn't be bothered to read anything that was longer than four sentences so he found himself either reading confusing half-finished passages or nonsensical poetry.

_He paced the halls, metal suit clanking around his body. With one hand he reached out to the lost and trembling child. "Follow me." He-_

_With the sound of footsteps loud as drums_  
_Fear the time when the Springtrap comes_  
_He will not speak, but he will say_  
_That it's time that he took you away_

_They found her lying on the floor, choking on her own blood and vomit. They soon joined her; broken and bleeding as they-_

_RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN_

_He still thinks I'm perfectly sane. What do you think? I'm sure you believe you're reading the ramblings of a simple madman. Don't you?_

Well, that was enough for tonight. Mike closed the book, a little unnerved at the final passage before sliding it back into the drawer where he'd found it. In all honesty, he had come to the conclusion that JF was a little messed up in the head. He just hadn't thought that the writer would be fully aware of that fact. Hoping that the poor author had sought professional help after leaving, he looked back at the dining area to check on Freddy.

Or at least, where he'd last seen that dumb bear. Freddy was nowhere to be seen.

His nightmare flashed back to him and he frantically switched cameras. Chica had finally left him alone, Foxy had reemerged from behind his curtain, Bonnie was- 

Nowhere in sight. So it was most likely-

\- Right outside the office's door. Mike all but threw himself against the button to close the door before the animatronic could step inside. He winced as a sharp pain shot through his shoulder, but at least he was safe. With another wince, he noticed that his wound had been reopened and was trickling blood. 

Remembering Freddy, he checked the cameras once more to make sure he hadn't missed the animatronic. The bear was still nowhere on the screen. 

Without thinking, he reached out and closed the door to his right. Just as the door slid closed, a hulking shape appeared behind the window, eyes and teeth glinting in the dim light. 

He was running low on power. Thankfully, he only had another ten minutes left. He turned the light on outside the left door to reveal Bonnie's grinning face pressed against the glass window. On the other side of the office, Freddy was still lurking in the shadows, waiting for the door to open once more. 

Mike sat back, trying to keep an eye on the two of them as he drew deep breaths to calm himself. He was going to be just fine. In a few minutes, they would leave him alone. It wasn't as if he was going to run out of power so soon; he still had about 15% left.

Nonetheless, sitting in silence with an animatronic on either side of him made him feel unnerved. He wished they would leave a little sooner. 

"I know you're in there." 

A boy's voice sounded from behind the left door and Mike flinched. Bonnie was still standing by the window. Whoever had spoken must have been standing behind the door, out of view. 

"Come on out!"

Something clanged against the metal. Mike saw the bunny shift and his breath hitched in his throat. That boy was most likely standing right next to the thing. Any second, it would spot him and drag him away into the darkness. 

"COWARD!" 

The boy kicked the door and Bonnie took a step behind the door, completely obscuring itself from view. Mike swore and opened the door. Even if the boy was acting like a little douche, Mike wasn't going to let him get killed. 

Behind the door, Bonnie stood by itself. The animatronic's stagnant grin seemed to grow a little wider as it took a step forward. 

Without hesitation, Mike slammed the door. The metal knocked against Bonnie's nose with a loud cracking noise. Mike prayed he didn't break anything; the last thing he wanted was to be fined for damaging company property. 

His head spun, and not just because of the blood he had lost. Someone  _had_ just been outside his door; he'd heard the boy's voice himself. Could he have run away, somehow escaping Bonnie? It was unlikely, but was also the only answer Mike could think of.

He checked his watch. Just seven minutes until he could leave this madhouse. Christ, this was taking forever. 

Bonnie finally left to go back to the stage, but Freddy was still outside. Mike opened the left door and cast a glare at the bear behind the window to his right. "You can get lost now." he said aloud, his nerves making his voice sound sour.

He wasn't sure exactly why, but out of all the animatronics, Freddy seemed to make him the most uneasy. Thinking about it, Mike found it odd. Freddy seemed to be the least active animatronic, and hadn't even put him in any danger so far. There didn't seem to be any reason for him to feel that way around the bear.

Forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the animatronic outside his door, Mike turned the screen back on just in time to see Foxy charging down the hall. He swore and slammed the door shut, hearing a satisfying thud as the fox crashed into the metal surface. Beyond the window, Mike could see Foxy's silhouette regain its balance and slink back toward Pirate Cove with a defeated air. 

Bonnie and Chica were back on the stage. Mike watched as Foxy disappeared behind Pirate Cove's curtain before turning the screen off. All the animatronics except Freddy were safely far away from him. He turned the light outside his right door on and stared at the bear's shadow that was thrown across the wall. The animatronic was standing directly behind the door, out of sight. 

Mike checked his watch. How long had the thing been standing there? None of the other animatronics loitered this long outside the office. 

A boy's voice, calm and determined broke the silence from the other side of the door. "You will pay."

The Westminster chimes rang through the building and Mike jumped, almost falling out of his chair. He caught sight of Freddy shuffling past the door as it returned to the stage. 

Mike groaned and rested his head on the desk. Were these animatronics programmed to act as creepy as possible? If wandering around after dark wasn't bad enough, they could also apparently spout vaguely ominous messages to patrons. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why the things were still in use.

Dragging himself to his feet, he staggered over to the water cooler and shakily poured some into the flimsy paper cups sitting next to it. He needed to hydrate. And sleep. And get some help. It didn't matter what order. 

The skinny, brown-haired day guard arrived for his shift and froze in place when he caught sight of Mike half-slumped against the wall, "Holy shit, are you okay?" he choked once he recovered form the initial shock of seeing his new coworker looking as if he'd been hit by a bus. 

"I'm a lot better than I look." Mike said, not at all surprised at how ragged his voice sounded, "I'm fine, I just... Tripped."

The guard didn't look at all convinced, "I can give you a lift to the hospital if you want." he gave Mike a look that said 'you need it'.

"I'm fine, really." Mike insisted. 

The smartest thing to do probably _was_ get to a hospital. He had no idea how much blood he'd lost - enough that he could still walk, but still feel slightly dizzy when standing. But he knew that a visit to the hospital would get his mother involved, and if she found out that he was getting injured like this at work... Well, there was no way he'd be coming back here, making this entire night pointless.

Wincing slightly, he surveyed his wound again. It still stung horribly, but at least the bleeding had finally stopped completely. Maybe if he just bandaged it and hid it beneath a jacket...

He winced again when he caught sight of it lying discarded on the floor. Its sleeve had been badly ripped and much of the blue fabric stained purple. One thing was for certain: there was no way he'd be able to wear  _that_ in public ever again.

Still, it would be able to cover his bloodstained shirt, so he pulled it on regardless. He was just glad that he'd driven to work instead of catching the bus.

He couldn't help but wonder if this was the first time something like this had happened. Surely Mel must have picked up that there was something off about her precious pizzeria years ago. If Phone Guy knew that something was wrong, she definitely should too. Why would she keep the place open if she knew that her animatronics posed a danger toward the night guards?

Unless... Maybe she knew, but just didn't  _care_. No, that couldn't be right. Mike couldn't imagine her as a sociopathic businesswoman running a pizzeria for little kids. It was entirely plausible, but Mel didn't strike him as stupid. If there was a danger that she knew of, she'd take care of it before an accident happened and she had to close down Fazbear's. And since it looked so far like the pizzeria was her pride and joy, there was no way she'd let anybody close it down.

Unless that 'doing anything' really did include doing anything. For example, covering up said 'accidents'. What did Phone Guy say on the first night? Something about how after an incident may occur, a missing persons report being filed after the building had been cleaned, bleached and the carpets replaced?

He had to put an end to Fazbear's and its animatronics once and for all, before they could put an end to him.

But first, he had to get out of his blood-soaked clothes before someone saw him and called the police.


	6. Daydreamers

"So, you want to sue Freddy Fazbear's?"

Mike tried to hide his frustrated scowl, "No, I don't want to  _sue_  them." he said, cursing himself for his lack of knowledge on how the legal system worked, "I'm saying that from what I've experienced, the management is putting its security guards in danger."

"Uh-huh." the police station's receptionist nodded, though Mike had a feeling that everything he was saying was just going in one ear and out the other. He caught sight of a GameBoy peeking out from under some forms on her desk and her hand twitching toward it, "So what are you here for again?"

Mike pinched the bridge of his nose, "Is there some way I can file a complaint that can get Freddy Fazbear's searched and the owner arrested without having to give my name?"

The receptionist shrugged, "Dunno, it's my first day." Mike groaned aloud and she said, "Sounds like you might need some evidence, though. You don't want to waste our time, we're real busy in here." one hand reached toward her GameBoy while the other motioned for him to leave. 

"Is  _this_  enough evidence?" Mike demanded, rolling up his sleeve to reveal a clumsily-applied bandage.

The woman's eyes widened when she saw it, "Oh geez." she remarked, looking pale, "Well... I guess not."

Mike pulled his sleeve back down and sighed in relief, "See? I told you-" he frowned, "Hang on, what?"

"Well I mean..." she shrugged, "Can you prove you got it at Freddy's?"

Mike opened his mouth to tell her of course he could; there was video footage that must have recorded it when he realised the statement was untrue. There was no camera in or directly outside the office where the incident took place. 

"Uh-huh." the receptionist nodded smugly, "Lemme tell you, you're not the first to come in here trying to sue Freddy Fazbear's."

"I'm not trying to sue them." Mike said through gritted teeth, "And I thought you said today's your first-"

"Can I help you?"

Mike jumped as a voice sounded behind him. He turned, wondering how long the man had been listening into their conversation. He wasn't wearing a uniform, though the way that the receptionist's expression shifted to a look of embarrassment as she pulled a stack of books over her half-hidden game made Mike guess he was an officer. 

The man shot the receptionist a disapproving frown and he turned to Mike, "Can I talk for you for a minute?"

Mike swore silently. Maybe showing the woman his bloodied bandage in the middle of a police station wasn't such a good idea after all. The cop probably thought he was a gang member or a drug addict or something. Nonetheless, he figured he'd probably only dig himself deeper if he refused, so he awkwardly mumbled "Okay" before being led to a nearby office, catching the receptionist's smirk as the cop closed the door behind them. 

"I apologise for our receptionist's behaviour." the officer said, glancing through his window's shutters at the woman, "I have no idea why we hired her, but I don't have the authority to fire her." he turned back to Mike and held out his hand, "Alexis Holguín. But please, just call me Lex."

Hesitant, Mike shook his hand. "Mike Schmidt."

"Ah." Mike found himself squirming under Lex's analysing gaze. Something about the man's intense gaze made him feel guilty, even though he hadn't committed a crime. "Schmidt. I see."

"Whatever you think I did, it wasn't me." Mike found himself saying. Was this the right time to ask for a lawyer?

Lex tilted his head to one side, "So, you aren't the night guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria?"

Mike's face burned, "No! No, I am. I just..."

Lex chuckled, "I'm not here to arrest you, if that's what you're thinking." he assured him, taking a seat behind his desk, "I heard the two of you talking and grew curious. As the rude young lady said, you're not the first to try and sue Freddy Fazbear's."

"For the last time, I don't want to sue-" Mike started irritably and then stopped, "Sorry, I mean- That's not what I'm intending on doing." he paused. "Sorry."

Lex waved his hand, "Don't worry about being rude, I deal with worse people on a daily basis. You're confused and tired. Spending a night fighting to survive in the face of murderous animatronics does that to a person."

A sense of relief flooded through Mike. Finally, someone who understood him, "Thanks, but..." he forced his tired mind to understand what he was hearing, "You know about the animatronics?" of course he had to, if he really had heard numerous complaints from previous night guards. But the frank nature Lex spoke of them had caught Mike off-guard.

"Of course." Lex said simply, "I used to work there." Mike's speechlessness caused him to grin, "In fact, their blatant disregard for human life is what motivated me to become a policeman in the first place. It's crazy how things in life can inspire you to become a better person, isn't it? Donut?"

"Huh?" Mike stared blankly at the box Lex was offering him. He hadn't been sure what to expect when he stepped into the station, but he sure hadn't anticipated anything like  _this_  to happen.

"You're probably hungry." Lex said, "I know it's a bit of a stereotype for a police officer to eat donuts, but I really do like them."

Having not eaten in almost ten hours, Mike couldn't have said no to their sugary sweet taste. "Thanks."

"I assume you have questions." Lex said as Mike helped himself, "Either that or you're trying to make a citizen's arrest to put your boss behind bars."

"I guess I'm here for both." Mike answered truthfully. 

"Let me tell you right now, the latter is going to be incredibly difficult." Lex said, "You can't arrest Melanie for manslaughter unless you have concrete proof of her animatronics killing anybody. And as I haven't got such evidence, I doubt you would, either."

Well, that was disappointing. "You can't arrest her for covering up deaths on her property?" Mike asked.

"Without evidence, there's very little that can be done." Lex admitted, "And even with evidence, it's been difficult to do anything to harm Fazbear Entertainment."

Well, that was even more disappointing. "So there's nothing that can be done to stop her?"

"Not for now." Lex told him, "However, circumstances can change. One just has to wait for the right variable. Though, I have a feeling you may be more interested in the animatronics themselves. After all, they are a more immediate threat to you than your employers."

"I guess so." Mike agreed begrudgingly. He didn't like the idea of doing nothing, but it didn't sound like there was anything he could do for now that could help his situation. "I've been trying to figure those animatronics out since I started working there. I don't get it; how come those things are still being used when they're supposed to be dangerous? And how are those things even supposed to work? They were made ages ago, but are apparently programmed to recognise endoskeletons. Is that technology really avaliable and mainstream right now?"

Lex nodded in understanding, "It's really quite simple." he said, "The place is haunted."

Mike stared at him blankly. He hadn't been certain what would happen when he approached the station, but finding an officer of the law who so casually believed a well-known pizzeria was haunted certainly wasn't something he could have foreseen. 

"I understand that it's a rather bold statement." Lex continued, "For a long time, I was unwilling to believe it, myself."

"Haunted." Mike echoed, wondering if the cop was insane, "With ghosts."

"More or less." Lex said with a nod, appearing to completely miss Mike's suspicious tone, "The building has been haunted for well over a decade. However, the real danger comes from the animatronics."

"The haunted animatronics?" Mike suggested, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his words.

Again, Lex didn't react, "From what I gather, yes. They appear to be haunted by a group of malicious spirits."

Mike stood up, "Are you serious? I came here to talk to a police officer, not a ghostbuster." 

"Talk to anybody else in this precinct, but I'll be the only person who will take you seriously." he flipped the lid off the donut box and took one for himself, "I've watched staff from Fazbear's come here searching for somebody who could give them answers, and only one person has listened to them." his expression shifted and he looked as if he was going to be sick, "Of course, not that I could have done any good. I was rarely believed."

"Probably because your theory sounds batshit insane." Mike suggested. 

Lex put the donut back inside the box, "Why do you think the animatronics hunt you?"

"They can't be  _hunting_  me." Mike said, though he didn't fully believe what he was saying, "They wander and just happen to end up at my office."

The uncertainty in his voice did not go undetected, "Yet, they seem to always move directly toward your office." Lex said, "They don't walk around in circles or stay in the dining area. It's as if they know where exactly they can find the security guard."

"They always take the same routes." Mike argued, "Bonnie approaches from the left door and Chica from the right. That's not random; they were probably programmed to take a certain route through the pizzeria."

"A route that leads to the office? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep them away from the busy staff?"

"I dunno, maybe so that the guard can check up on them in person without having to leave the office?"

"You're a security guard, not a technician. Maintenance of the animatronics shouldn't be in your job description." he paused, "I don't understand, you came here to report Fazbear Entertainment, yet you're defending them when I try to give you answers."

"I'm not arguing that they aren't dangerous." Mike said defensively, "I'm saying that it just makes no sense that you think that they're haunted, too."

"You still refuse to believe me?" Lex sounded more bemused than irritated, "The animatronics were apparently designed to sing and dance. They shouldn't have the strength to forcefully stuff an adult into an animatronic suit."

"They're over seven feet and filled with metal; it makes sense to design them to be strong enough to support their own weight." though, Mike had to agree that there was something wrong with the claim that they were programmed to target naked endoskeletons, remembering Bonnie ignoring one during his first night.

"And it makes sense for animatronics designed for entertainment to attack the night guard?"

"That's a programming error-"

"An error that hasn't been fixed?"

"That's why I'm here. Mel's trying to cover it up-"

"Don't you think it's much easier to fix a dangerous programming mistake than to cover up numerous disappearances?"

Mike rolled his eyes, "So, the only logical conclusion is the animatronics are haunted?"

"They know where the office is located and continuously attempt to get inside, suggesting a higher motive aside from simply wandering. They have the strength and will to harm others despite having no reason to be designed to do so. The excuse that they're programmed to deal with bare endoskeletons is an obvious lie as they have only ever seemed interested in human targets and the fact that this 'programming error' hasn't been fixed makes perfect sense as it can't be fixed. One can't program a spirit like they can a computer."

Mike hesitated. There was something else he wanted to mention, "I don't know if this is normal for night guards, but..." he felt so weird saying it aloud, "I've been having... Hallucinations?" was that the right word for it? Lex's expression was unreadable, "I mean, I've been seeing things. Both nights, I imagined myself in the pizzeria..." he trailed off. Thinking about it, he had no idea how he could explain what he had been seeing without sounding insane.

"Go on." Lex didn't look at all bothered by MIke's discomfort and was eating a donut as casually as if the two of them were talking about the weather.

Well, he had already said too much to tell Lex to 'forget about it'. "Both times, I'd imagine seeing a kid covered in blood and a Purple Guy."

"A purple guy?" Lex repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"That's what they called-" Mike broke off, remembering the children's voices he'd heard during the night, "I mean, he had purple eyes." he paused, "And a purple shirt."

"The same colour as that worn by Fazbear employees?" Lex guessed and Mike nodded, hand running across the spot directly under his eye where he imagined Purple Guy striking him. Finally Lex began to speak again, "I am unsure if you are aware of this, but six years ago, five children went missing on Fazbear's premises. They were never located, but-" 

"The Missing Children Incident." Mike said, "But how could I have seen it? I mean, it happened years ago."

Lex didn't look annoyed at all despite being cut off mid-sentence, "I'm sure you know exactly why you saw what you did." he responded, "As I was saying, nobody knows what happened during the incident. Only the night guard was accounted for being in the building that night and all security tapes were deleted by morning." once more, a look of distaste crossed his features, "The next morning, the floors were found covered in blood. The children had undoubtedly been murdered during the night, though from what I understand, their bodies were never found."

There was a pause, as if Lex expected Mike to add something. All he could think of saying was, "Yikes." 

Lex appeared satisfied with that response and carried on, "The police was never notified of the discovery, though." he said, "Fazbear's was closed for the following week as the carpets were replaced as discreetly as possible. Of course, an employee eventually ratted them out and the place was closed down and management was sued. But the entire ordeal was soon swept under the rug and Fazbear's Pizzeria reopened a few years later."

Despite the warm room he was seated in, Mike felt a chill running down his spine, "What happened to the guard?" he asked, "The one who was in the building that night?"

"Needless to say, he was accused of murder and arrested."

"Thank God." at least  _some_  justice got served. 

Lex frowned, "Fritz Smith was an innocent man." he said cooly and Mike found himself averting his eyes in embarrassment, "That court case was the one and only time Fazbear Entertainment has lost, and it's a miracle that happened. If Mel hadn't tried to cover up the murders happening on her property, she would have gotten away scot-free, though she had to pin the blame on a few other people to keep herself out of prison."

It was MIke's turn to frown, "I'm not trying to sound rude or anything, but you don't sound too bothered by the fact that five kids got murdered by one of your co-workers."

"No offence taken. I take great issue with the deaths of those children, but the fact that the incident happened in the first place points towards an even bigger threat. Fazbear Entertainment is dangerous. It has no regard for the safety of its employees or customers and will continue to put them at risk until somebody stops them."

Mike nodded, coming to an understanding, "That's what you're trying to do." he guessed, "You want to shut down Freddy Fazbear's."

"And I have been trying to do so for about a long time. But I feel we've talked long enough about me." he studied Mike with his dark blue eyes, "I take it you'll be returning to Fazbear's this evening." it wasn't a question, "I doubt anything is going to shake your curiosity."

"I've been hallucinating for two nights and I'm pretty certain my life is in danger. I won't call what I'm feeling just 'curiosity'."

"Very well. I can't promise much good would come out of your visit today; I've been unable to touch Fazbear Entertainment for years. Without substantial evidence, there's nothing I can do. You may file a lawsuit if you wish, but Fazbear Entertainment has only lost once in court."

"Well, that's-"

"In the meantime, I recommend going home and getting some rest."

"I-" Mike frowned. Why was he trying to argue? Lex was right, he needed sleep if he wanted to survive. "Yeah, good idea..." Now that he had time to think clearly, he realised just how tired he was. After two nights of constant adrenaline rushes, he felt completely drained of all energy.

"And don't forget to stay hydrated."

"Yeah, will do." the officer was starting to remind Mike a little of his mother from when he was a kid. He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

"You are not obliged to return to Fazbear's." Lex continued, "However, if you desire, I will not stop you. It's your own choice. Do what you will, Michael."

It was only a while after Mike left that he realised that - like Mel - he'd never introduced himself to Lex as Michael, either. 

* * *

 Lex watched the young man's retreating figure until he disappeared completely. It had been years since anybody had asked him about his time at Freddy's and just as long since he'd chosen to share. But there were too many things that had happened, too many things that he'd seen that he'd tried so long to keep buried. Even though he still found it hard to sleep soundly after all those years, he hoped that eventually, Freddy Fazbear's would fade into an unpleasant memory.

It appeared that that was not the case.

Over the years, it was uncommon for a guard to actively seek out answers. From his experience, he'd noticed that many of the night guards that had taken up the shift chose to either leave as soon as they noticed something was off or caught on soon that there were some things people didn't want to share and let it be. And then there were those few that disappeared entirely in the night, never to see the light of day again.

He pondered how long Michael Schmidt would last until he either gave up or lost the animatronic's little game of cat-and-mouse. He  _had_  warned him. He'd warned many others before him. Some listened to him and took his advice to forsake the shift, others laughed him off until a few days later when they were desperately begging Mel for them to be relieved of their shift. A few quit on the spot and were never spotted within ten kilometres of Fazbear's ever again.

But here was a guard, who seemed actively  _curious_  in the going-ons of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Not only did he seem to fully understand the risks and consequences, but he was fully prepared to keep returning to the night shift until he was satisfied with the answers he got. Lex wasn't entirely sure if he should label Michael Schmidt as determined or just plain stupid.

He ever so slightly reminded him of another guard who'd worked there six years ago.

He'd kept Jeremy's number after all this time, but had never thought he'd call. The two of them hadn't spoken since the pizzeria's grand closing down in the wake of the Missing Children Incident.

Much to his surprise, Jeremy picked up after a few rings. His voice was just as Lex had remembered it sounding, hesitant no matter what he was saying and with a slight quiver to it, as if he was afraid he might anger the person he was talking with.

" _Hello? Who is this?_ "

"Jeremy, this is Alexis. I need to talk to you about Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria." Lex paused for a moment, half expecting the young man to hang up upon hearing the name of the place. "If you're interested, that is. I don't want you to feel forced into complying." Nonetheless, he really was hoping for Jeremy's assistance. Lex had never been the kind of person who liked to do things by himself. 

" _I want to help._ " Jeremy's voice was barely audible. " _What do you want me to do?_ "

"There's a new guard." Lex said, reaching under his desk and retrieving an old folder. He opened it and began to flick through its contents. Lawsuits, missing persons reports, and an incredibly hard-to-find newspaper clipping reporting the disappearance of five children. "Freddy Fazbear's has a new night guard. Michael Schmidt."

Jeremy said nothing.

Lex continued, "When was the last time there was a guard who was actively interested in shutting the establishment down? We have an eyewitness who's working for Mel on the inside. He can gather all the evidence needed to close Fazbear's doors forever."

" _You're saying we use him?_ "

"Yes, I'm saying we use him." there was no point in beating around the bush. Jeremy trusted him and Lex had no reason to lie. "I want you to find him, provided he survives tonight, and tell him everything. If, of course, you still want to take part."

There was an even longer pause. For a moment, Lex thought he had hung up when he finally broke the silence, " _Okay._ "

"Excellent."

" _Fritz won't be happy to hear I'm messing around with Fazbear's, though..._ "

"I'm sure Fritz would understand when there are lives at stake."

Jeremy hummed, not sounding convinced at all. Lex could imagine him tracing the pale scars across his forehead, re-living his last day on the job. He was quiet for a minute, until Lex realised that the other man had hung up on him. He sighed and hung up, too. He would give Jeremy a pass on his social skills that day as there were more pressing matters to deal with. 

He took another look at his collection of papers. Lawsuits that had ended with Fazbear Entertainment being found innocent, missing persons reports that couldn't confirm that Freddy Fazbear's was the last place the guards were seen in and a barely useful newspaper article that simply stated that an event occurred.

Some days, his goal to close the place down felt so hopeless, he felt like hurling his pathetic excuses for 'evidence' into a fire. But something kept him moving forwards. 

An ancient photo lay at the bottom of the folder, taken back in the glory days of Fazbear Entertainment. It showed the old staff standing outside the establishment, completely oblivious to the future of themselves and their company. Twin employees Al and Michelle stood on either side of the frame, dressed in those ridiculous spring-locked suits that had Mel insisted on buying, hands raised to wave at the camera. Jonathan and Lex stood side by side, young and bright-eyed without a care in the world, surrounded by employees whose names Lex had long since forgotten. 

And in the centre stood Mel herself. Her face was split open by the biggest shit-eating grin Lex had ever seen on a person. Just looking at it made him want to punch her perfect teeth out. 

 _That_  was all the motivation he needed to keep going. 

He carefully placed everything back inside the folder. He was finally getting somewhere with this case, but in the meantime, he had other work to do. For now, all he could do was hope that Jeremy would follow through and pray that Michael would survive another night.


End file.
